Miscreants pelt stones at Train 18, damage India's first engineless train

Earlier in November, the first trial run of Train 18 was successfully conducted on tracks at Moradabad-Rampur section of Northern Indian Railways.

During the trial run of indigenously developed India's first engineless train, 'Train 18' between Agra and Delhi, some miscreants pelted stones at the Railways' fastest train damaging one of its windows.

The Chief Design Engineer and other officials were on board when the incident took place. "On Thursday speed trials were being conducted for Train 18 between Agra and New Delhi, with Srinivas, the Chief Design Engineer, Integral Coach Factory (ICF), among the inspecting crew on board, some miscreants from outside threw stones on the train, that damaged one of the windows of the Train 18 on one side," said GV Venkatesan, Public Relation Officer, ICF.

Condemning the act, Venkatesan appealed to the public not to vandalise railway properties. "Such act of vandalising the public property such as trains, railway stations, are condemnable, in particular, a prestigious brand new train such as Train 18.

Public are requested to desist from vandalising railway properties including trains, railway stations and defacing them. After all, it is the public property that belongs to them," he said.

Earlier in November, the first trial run of Train 18 was successfully conducted on tracks at Moradabad-Rampur section of Northern Indian Railways. During the trial run, the train was made to run at different speeds.

The India's fastest train ran, which will replace Shatabdi trains, ran at a speed of over 180 kmph during a trial run on a section of the Delhi-Rajdhani route.

Business Standard

Nagpur to Mumbai in 5 hours! Indian Railways plans high-speed service

The government says the high-speed rail tracks will run parallel to an expressway and benefit thousands of passengers, farmers and traders in both directions.

Soon, you will be able to reach Nagpur from Mumbai in just five hours!

Indian Railways is planning to construct a dedicated high-speed railway line alongside the under-construction Nagpur-Mumbai Super Express, which is also known as Samriddhi Mahamarg. The high-speed railway line will reduce the travel time by up to 10 hours once it is completed. Currently, it takes around 13 to 14 hours to reach from Mumbai to Nagpur and vice-verse via rail.

"The line will run parallel to the Expressway and benefit thousands of passengers, farmers and traders, in both directions,” Piyush Goyal said.

Indian Railways, Maha Metro Rail Corporation Limited and the state government have signed a MoU to build a Mass Rapid Transit System in Nagpur. The aim to is to connect the railway line with the existing metro coaches.

Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Water Resources Nitin Gadkari and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were also present at the MoU signing ceremony.

Gadkari proposed to the Ministry of Railways to introduce modern air-conditioned Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) rakes on the broad gauge railway lines connecting Nagpur with towns of Kotal, Bhandara, Ramtek and Wardha — all within a distance of 40-60 km.

The rakes will run at a speed of up to 120 kmph and help reduce the travel time in the congested sections, a ministry statement said.

The proposed train will equip the daily commuters with the option of faster, easy, time-saving, air-conditioned travel.

Indian Railways has also allocated a record sum of Rs 67 trillion (Rs 67,000 crore) for the development of Suburban railway network in Mumbai. Mumbai railway network is one of the largest railway networks in India and used by one-third of total railway passengers in India.

Article Source BS