India may soon have Swiss tilting trains

The Indian Railways in collaboration with Switzerland will work on developing trains that are capable of tilting to one side as they approach a bend — just like a motorcycle on a winding road.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed between the two countries on Thursday.

Apart from the tilting train technology, the agreement aims at cooperation in the areas of traction, rolling stock, electric multiple unit and train sets, traction propulsion equipment, freight and passenger cars, railway electrification equipment and tunneling technology.

Such trains are now operational in 11 countries — Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, the UK, Switzerland, China, Germany and Romania.

Last year, the Indian Railways had conducted trials on the Spanish “Talgo” trains, which have articulated bogeys and light weight aluminium shells. These are also designed to permit natural tilting, enabling the trains to negotiate curves at as higher speed. The Indian Railways has also been toying with the idea of taking the Talgo trains on lease.

The MoU — which was signed in the presence of PM Narendra Modi — is a follow up to a meeting between railways minister Suresh Prabhu and Swiss ambassador in July last year. The second MoU for the railway sector was also signed between Konkan Railway Corporation Limited and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

This agreement will help the railways establish George Fernandes Institute of Tunnel Technology at Goa, which will conduct research in the assimilation and dissemination of knowledge in the field of tunneling.