More Intercity EMUs for Indian Railways

THE launch of the first Indianmanufactured ‘Train 18’ or ‘Vande Bharat Express’ EMU took place in February 2019, leading to the Indian government announcing an international tender for up to 40 more similar 16-coach, 160kph units to replace loco-hauled daytime trains on electrified routes.

The ‘Train 18’ prototype was built by the Integral Coach Factory at Perambur (Chennai) and cost around $14million.

The original unit is currently in use on the Delhi to Varanasi route, where journey times have been reduced to around eight hours.

Despite being designed for 160kph operation it is currently limited by the infrastructure to a maximum speed of 130kph.

A second unit was introduced between New Delhi and

Katra, in north-west India, on October 3, 2019.

JULIAN HILL The second Train 18 EMU set seen working train 22439 – the 06.00 New Delhi-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra – at Ludhiana on November 14, 2019.