Second trial run of Spanish lightweight coaches today

Starting Saturday, the Indian Railways will carry out the second trial run of the Spanish Talgo train on the Mathura-Palwal route.

The coaches will be hauled across the 84-km distance for more than a month.

The first trial run was conducted between Bareilly and Moradabad in May.

The lightweight aluminium coaches, made by Madrid-based Talgo, can travel at much higher speeds due to their weight and also don't need to de-accelerate at sharp turns like conventional coaches used by the Indian Railways.

The trial runs are taking place on the Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani route.

In the third phase of the trial, the train will cover the entire distance.

“Within five or six days after the second trial run is over, the train will run on the entire Delhi-Mumbai route,” said Anil Kumar Saxena, Additional Director General, Public Relations, Indian Railways.

Faster, safer journey

The trial runs are being carried out to test the riding quality, safety and stability of the Talgo coaches.

Once that is done, trials will begin to gauge the speed that it can match.

Indian Railways has recently started the semi high-speed train Gatimaan Express with a speed of 160 kmph between Delhi and Agra Cantonment railway stations and is veering towards introducing more trains that can travel at faster speeds on busy routes such as Delhi-Mumbai. If successful, the train is expected to cover the distance between Delhi and Mumbai within 12 hours, a journey that takes about 17 hours at present.

Besides being faster, the light-weight of the Talgo trains coaches means that the train guzzles up to 30 per cent less energy than a train with conventional coaches.