CRS ‘green signal’ to bring Gatimaan on track soon

LUCKNOW: Country’s fastest train Gatimaan, having a speed of 200 km per hour, is likely to become a reality soon. Research Design and Standard Organisation (RDSO), the technical adviser to the railways, has finally rectified the objections that the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) had raised during the train’s trial test on 195km-DelhiAgra stretch, in June this year.

The CRS is expected to give its nod and as per officials Gatimaan is likely to start operating within 45 days.

“We have cleared all the issues raised by CRS and have forwarded the file back to CRS for further clearance,” said PK Srivastava, director general RDSO.

Srivastava said Gatimaan is expected to get clearance in next 45 days. In the second phase, efforts will be made to introduce the semi-high speed train on Delhi-Lucknow stretch.

To recall, CRS after a thorough screening of Gatimaan’s trial test, conducted on June 2, had pointed out a few ‘objections’ and had directed RDSO to rectify them at the earliest. “The trial was the last one, which Northern Railways (NR) conducted in the presence of CRS, RDSO officials and others to ensure the performance of the train,” an official with RDSO said.

In the trial run that went on successfully, the officer said that CRS officials had pointed out the issue of fencing and advised the RDSO to ensure proper fencing along the stretch, especially in areas having human and animal population in abundance.

Besides, the official said they also pointed out a few signalling related queries and had directed the RDSO to upgrade it.

In the trial run, the semi-high speed train covered the distance of 195km from Agra to Delhi, in merely 115 minutes. Officials had termed Gatimaan, the fastest train as they said that the current fastest train— Bhopal Shatabdi took two hours to cover the same distance.