Trial and error: High-speed Talgo train reaches Mumbai 3 hours late

On its third trial run on Tuesday, the train from New Delhi reached Mumbai Central at 11:40 am against the expected time of 8:31 am

Covering the distance between Delhi and Mumbai in less than 12 hours on a train sounds ambitious for Indian Railways. Unfortunately, the much-hyped Talgo train, which was to make it possible, failed to do so in the final phase of trials on Tuesday. The Spanish-made high-speed train reached Mumbai over three hours behind schedule. The railways blamed waterlogging on the tracks for the delay.

The super-fast Rajdhani Express takes 15 hours and 50 minutes from New Delhi to reach Mumbai Central. The railways wanted to cut this time by a little more than four hours, using the lightweight Talgo. During the trial, however, the train reached only nine minutes short of the Rajdhani's timing.

Last month, the Talgo's trials made headlines as it became the fastest train on Indian tracks by clocking a speed of 180-kilometre per hour. It covered the 84-km Mathura-Palwal route within 38 minutes, surpassing the Gatimaan Express launched in April.

The railways said the delay in the Talgo timing was because of heavy rains and 'point failure' at Mathura Junction. The train had commenced its final phase of trial runs from New Delhi on Monday at 7:55 pm and reached Mumbai on Tuesday at 11.40 am.

"There was waterlogging beyond Surat between Udvada - Vapi - Bhilad section, which considerably delayed the movement of trains as speed restrictions had to be imposed for safety reasons," the railways said. On the Delhi to Surat stretch, the Talgo took around two hours less than Rajdhani Express.

"We expect the train to reach Mumbai within 12 hours. The train will run at an average of 100-110 kmph and can attain a maximum speed of 130 kmph during this trial run," Hemant Kumar, member - mechanical, Railway Board, told Business Standard on Monday, before the flag-off from New Delhi. The Rajdhani Express has an average running speed of 91 kmph and can run at a top speed of 130 kmph.

The Talgo has nine coaches, comprising two executive class coaches, four general class coaches, a cafeteria, a power car and a tail-end coach. This is the third and longest route the train has covered in India. Its first trial was on the Bareilly-Moradabad stretch in Uttar Pradesh in May this year. The second route it covered was between Palwal and Mathura on the North-Central Railway.

Trial runs between Mumbai and Delhi will continue over the next 15 days, clocking a speed of 130 to 150 kmph. The remaining trial runs on the route will be on August 5, August 9 and August 14. "We haven't yet finalised the date of introduction of the train and the price of tickets. However, it might not be crossing the 160 kmph clocked by the Gatimaan Express," Kumar added.

SPEEDSTER'S TANGO

• Maximum commercial speed: 250 km/h
   
• Traction: Electrical
   
• Length: 20 m
   
• Front: Aerodynamic, optimised for pressure waves and side winds

Source: Talgo.com