Indigenous railway industry suffering due to foreign ventures.
The speed at which trials of Spanish train firm Talgo's nine-coach rake is being conducted has once again raised the debate among railway officials that the railways will be more of 'purchase' rather than 'develop' when it comes to commuting technology.
"This is unprecedented. Between May 29 and August 14, the Talgo rake has been tested in various zones, has made four trips between Delhi and Mumbai. Unfortunately, this same speed is not shown for products made in-house. Look at the time being taken to test the air-conditioned local or the Medha local in Mumbai, which is the first time an Indian firm has made electrical systems for a local using Alternating Current three-phase IGBT technology," explained an official.
The air-conditioned local came to Mumbai on April 5 and is still stabled at the Kurla Carshed. The Medha rake came to Mumbai in October 2015 and is yet to be commissioned.
Apart from the Talgo, the next big purchase lined up for the railways is the acquisition of 15 trainsets, for which Rs 2592 Cr was allotted in the railway budget for the current financial year. The tenders were being reworked for the project after a few false starts, said railway officials.
According to the officials, the brouhaha over the Talgo and the trainset project should not divert the attention of the powers-that-be from the 'Make in India' projects currently being pursued by the railways. Many of them have been languishing in files for almost a decade now.
Among them, officials pointed out, were the plans to make a Gas Turbine-powered locomotive, the manufacture of five Dual Mode (electric and diesel) locomotives as well as a High-Speed Diesel Trainset for short passenger routes. The first is being looked after by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO), the second by the Diesel Locomotive Works in Varanasi and the third by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai.
"Apart from this, the railways has ambitious plans of manufacturing model coaches for the Humsafar, Antyodaya, Deendayalu, Tejas, Uday and Smart brands of rakes. These have to be built between now and January 31 next year," said an official.
While the Humsafar rake was ready at Rail Coach Factory-Kapurthala (RCF) as per the deadline of June 15, the upmarket Tejas coach has already missed its June 30 mark. According to RCF officials, the coach is now expected to be completed by the end of August. The RCF is also making a trainset capable of running at speeds of 200 kmph.
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