Delhi-Mumbai Talgo train final trial at 150 kmph today
10 Sep 2016
Railways will conduct the final Delhi-Mumbai trial run of the Spanish-made Talgo train at speeds of 150 kmph on 10 September. The train is expected to start at 2.45 pm from New Delhi station and is scheduled to reach Mumbai at 2.29 am early morning next day, railway ministry officials said.
Once introduced the Talgo train will reduce travel time between Delhi and Mumbai by four hours to less than 12 hours. Currently, the super-fast Rajdhani Express train takes around 16 hours between New Delhi and Mumbai.
The nine-coach Talgo train consists of two executive class cars, four chair cars, a cafeteria, a power car and a tail-end coach for staff and equipment.
With nine super light-weight coaches the train, manufactured by Spanish firm Talgo, can hit 200 km per hour.
For the final Delhi-Mumbai trial run, however, the Talgo train is expected to take 11 hours and 44 minutes at 150 km per hour speed to cover the 1,384 km stretch between New Delhi and Mumbai.
In its third trial run on Friday, the Talgo train reached Mumbai 18 minutes late. Travelling at a speed of 140 km per hour the train reached Mumbai at 3.15 am instead of scheduled arrival at 2.57 am.
In three of four trials held so far, the train has not hit the required speed.
Railways had conducted the first trial run of Talgo trains on the Bareilly-Moradabad stretch in Uttar Pradesh, followed by the second trial run on the Palwal-Mathura section of the North-Central Railway.
Railways will collate the results of technical and speed tests to determine whether to buy the Talgo coaches. It will look for other options as well, say officials.
