India to have ‘tilting trains’ by 2026 to help maintain speed on curves .

The Indian Railways plans to introduce ‘tilting trains’ by 2026 with an aim to maintain higher speed on curvy stretches, railways officials said on Friday. According to the officials, 100 new units of the semi-high speed Vande Bharat trains are being manufactured using this technology.

Around 100 Vande Bharat trains will be equipped with this technology by 2024. We will tie up with a technology partner and get this over the next two to three years,” a railways official said, adding that these trains with sleeper coaches will be operational by the first quarter of 2024.

Tilting trains, the officer explained, have a mechanism that enables higher speed on regular broad-gauge tracks, which tilt while undergoing a curve on the track.

A broad-gauge (distance between the rails) railway track is broader than the standard 1,435-mm used by the railwaysSuch locomotives operate in the United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, China, Germany and Romania.

The railways is also preparing to become a major exporter of the Vande Bharat trains by 2026, primarily to markets in countries in Europe, South America and East Asia, a second official said.He said that the railways are aiming to start working on the export once the next lot of 75 VB trains (expected to be operational by August next year) clock at least 10 lakh km in the coming years.

The railways is also constructing a 59-km testing track between Gudha-Thathana Mithri in Jodhpur Division (near Jaipur) to carry out test runs with a maximum speed of 220 kmph. This track is expected to get completed by January 2024 and will be used to conduct trail runs of trains that will be exported,” he said.