Urban Transport Infrastructure November 2018 Urban Transport Infra November 2018 | Page 16

Metro & Railways
Train 18: A look at India's first indigenously-built
engineless train
India's first engineless rail, Train 18, manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) was rolled out on
October 29 in Chennai.
Main highlights of the Train 18
• Developed by Integral Coach
Factory, Chennai
• Time Taken: 18 months
• Estimated cost of the prototype is
INR 100 crores
• Passenger Capacity: 1128
• Train 18 will reduce travel time
by 15-20%
• Engine-less self propelled train
• 360 degree rotating seats
• AC Chair car type coaches
interconnected with gangways
• GPS based Passenger Information
System, CCTV, wi-fi facility
• Diffused lighting, automatic
doors and footsteps.
I
ndia’s first engineless rail, Train
18, manufactured by the
Integral Coach Factory (ICF)
was rolled out on October 29, in
Chennai. The semi-high speed train is
considered a successor to the Shatabdi
Express and will eventually replace
the 30-year-old passenger train for
intercity travel.
Indian Railway is all set to usher
in a new era. The Government of
India has undertaken active measures
to revive the crumbling infrastructure
of Indian railways and curate a
world-class experience. The Indian
Railways is all set to replace its
Shatabdi Express by Train 18 series
(new semi high-speed trains).
The
Ministry
of
Railways
announced plans to invest Rs.905,000
crore (US$126 billion) by 2020, to
upgrade the railways.
In the
meantime,
the
Indian
Railways’ Research Design and
Standards Organisation (RDSO) are
involved in executing research and
design work for the upgradation and
transformation.
Salient Features
The 18 coach train, with a semi-
high speed of 160 km per hour, has
the following design, technology and
amenity feature making it future
ready:
WWW.URBANTRANSPORTNEWS.COM
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Train 18 has an aerodynamic
driver cabin at each end. The
entire set operates as a computer
unit; the various equipment of
Train 18 “talk to each other
digitally” says ICF General
Manager Sudhanshu Mani.
It has a color scheme of white and
blue by ICF – a first for Indian
Railways. It gives the look and
feel of a world-class bullet train.
Train 18 has centrally operated
automatic doors with sliding
footsteps to bridge the gap
between platform and train. The
coach entry area also has
automatic sliding doors with
optical sensors.
There are two Executive Chair
cars with comfortable European-
style seats in the golden colored
fabric. The fabric is dust and fire
resistant. The headrests are pink
and purple.
A unique feature of the executive
chair car seats is that they can be
rotated 180 degrees to face fellow
passengers.
Train 18 has aircraft-like diffused
LED lighting which can be
brightened or dimmed depending
on the time of the day. Each seat
also has personalized reading
lights.
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The aisle seats have handles next
to the headrest to allow
passengers to hold them for easy
movement within the coaches.
Train 18 has aircraft-like bio-
vacuum toilets for efficient
flushing. Touch-free sensor-based
fittings have been used for
optimal consumption of water.
The mini pantry car in each coach
of Train 18 has world-class
imported equipment for better
heating of food and chilling of
cold drinks and juices.
It is a matter of pride that
India has made such a
train and that too, the ICF
has done it within 18
months. Within 2018-19
production year, another
unit of the train would be
manufactured and four
more units would be
manufactured by end of
2019-20 production year.
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Ashwani Lohani
Chairman, Railway Board
Urban Transport Infrastructure | November 2018