Prabhu denies fixed date for launch of India's fastest train

Says Gatimaan Express is still under technical trial

Amid several media reports that Gatimaan Express might be launched on June 9 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has denied any such plans.

Gatimaan Express, the first semi high-speed train service between Delhi and Agra, is going to be the fastest train in India with a speed touching up to 160 km per hour.

The Hindu quoted Prabhu as saying: “No date has been fixed to start the train. I also came to know about the date (of Modi inaugurating it on June 9) through media reports. Work to operationalise the train is still on. We will inform people once a date has been fixed.”

Earlier, after several reports of technical hold-backs, the Times of India had reported that the sixth and final trial for Gatimaan had been completed successfully on Tuesday, with the train covering its 195-km journey in 115 minutes, clocking a maximum speed of 160-plus kmph. There are no stoppages on the trains’s route.

A Firspost.com report, which said the train now only awaited mandatory clearance from the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), had added that Gatimaan was going to be launched by Modi on June 9 as part of the Railways’ celebration of the Modi government’s completion of a year in office.

Equipped with a 5,400 HP electric locomotive and 12 modern coaches, the train’s maximum speed will be 10 km per hour more than Bhopal Shatabdi, currently the fastest train on the route.

The train will also have some extra features like emergency braking system, automatic fire alarm along with a passenger information system, and sliding doors inside the coaches. The fare for Gatimaan will be 25 per cent higher than that of the Shatabdi.

Railways, according to the Firstpost report, has also chosen nine other routes for similar trains. These include Kanpur-Delhi, Chandigarh-Delhi, Hyderabad-Chennai, Nagpur-Bilaspur, Goa-Mumbai and Nagpur-Secunderabad.