The country's most prestigious train route — the Mumbai-Delhi one — is all set for its tryst with a made-in-Spain Talgo train. The first-ever trial of a completely imported trainset on the Indian Railways is expected to begin in the last week of May, tentatively the 25th, in North Central Railway's Mathura-Palwal section. Nine coaches of the train, built by Spanish rolling stock manufacturer Talgo, have already arrived at the JNPT in Mumbai and custom clearances are expected to be completed by May 5.

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"The plan is to transport this train by road on mutli-axle trucks to Izatnagar Railway Workshop near Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. The trucking is expected to take about 10 days. The process of completely checking the rake would take another week or so. We think that by May 25, it should be up for its first trial on the Mathura-Palwal section," said a senior railway official.

While the Vehicle Dynamics Simulation report conducted by Talgo on Indian tracks has certified the speed at 198kmph, railway officials told dna that the Mathura trial will be at a standard 180kmph. "The trial will use nine coaches of the train, one of which will have oscillograph and the other speed trial equipment, and the train will be pulled by a WDP4 or WAP 5 locomotive capable of pulling top speeds of 180kmph," said an official.

The most striking detail about these trains is that unlike Indian trains, which have a bogie and wheel-set on both ends of the coach, these Talgo trains have just one wheel-set in the middle of the coach. This allows better access to the train coach as it is much lower, officials said.

Train configurations

Single-axle end coach called TG4 by TalgoOne first-class and one VIP coach called TA4One cafetaria coach called TC4Four second-class coaches called TB4One end-car called TB4z