‘80km track to be used to test high speed trains’

Proposal to transform MahobaKhajuraho track presented

LUCKNOW: High speed trains may soon become a reality as the Railways is going to transform a 80-km-long track between Mahoba and Khajuraho into a high-speed train testing stretch.

The proposal to transform the track was presented by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) during the 33rd meeting of the Governing Council.

The meeting was chaired by Ashwani Lohani, chairman of the Indian Railway Board and chairman of the Governing Council.

The RDSO officials said the track was the most feasible one for testing high speed trains. “It’s a low traffic route in North Central Railways (NCR), so it would be utilised for testing trains up to the speed of 115km per hour,” an RDSO official said.

Other than transforming the track, the governing council also had a discussion over designing special bogies which could sustain the pressure of these high speed trains.

Besides, the RDSO gave a presentation on 10 main technologies and projects.

It includes a Bogie Design Centre at RDSO. The RDSO is also made a case for complete switchover to UIC-518 based testing of rolling stock (coaches, wagons, and locomotives etc.) which is internationally accepted, in place of the present age old testing system.

Similarly, the rail fracture detection technology - Ultrasonic Broken Rail Detection System (UBRD) - that is already in trial was also showcased in the meeting.

Member (traction) Ghanshyam Singh, member (rolling stock) Ravindra Gupta, member (engineering) MK Gupta, AM (T&C) Sanjiv Garg, DG/Personnel Anand Mathur, DG/S&T Akhil Agrawal, DG/Railway Store AK Goyal, DG/RDSO M Hussain and other senior officers of railway board and RDSO were present in the meeting.