The train from Spain that could have drastically cut journey times appears to have hit a dead end, with the government unable to move forward on its plan to rope in Spanish locomotive firm Talgo, despite a successful trial run last year.
Multiple Railway Ministry officials said that a committee has highlighted a series of problems with the ambitious project, including the inability to enlist a single bidder for a large order size, technical changes to train design, and high lease costs.
The Indian Railways had conducted trials of Talgo coaches last year to validate their speed potential and examine the time saved for a journey between New Delhi and Mumbai.
The trains clocked a top speed of 180 km per hour. They completed the 1,384 kilometre journey between the two metros in just 11 hours and 40 minutes, compared to the 15 hours and 50 minutes taken by the Rajdhani Express.
This was the first time that the Indian Railways had allowed a foreign train company to conduct a field trial on its tracks. The successful trial of Talgo’s trains was even highlighted in the list of the NDA government’s achievements in its first two years.
But going by the hurdles that have come up now, that may have been a premature claim to success.
“We do not have a framework to roll out tenders for trains manufactured by Talgo, as a single-player bid would prove to be ineffective,” a top Railway Ministry official said, requesting anonymity.
“We aim to set up a factory here. The tender with specifications floated by Indian Railways in the past didn’t allow us participate,” Subrath Nath, Director, India and Asia Pacific, at Talgo told The Hindu.
Officials said Indian Railways had also considered leasing four Talgo trains. But that, too, would be subject to a tendering process, noted a committee examining the issues related to acquiring Talgo trains for operations on Indian railway tracks.
“We anyway didn’t conduct such a big and successful trial to lease just four trains. Our target is to manufacture in India,” Mr. Nath said.
Incidentally, the Indo-Spanish joint statement issued after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Spain in May this year didn’t mention Talgo’s successful trial run.
No commitment
Prior to the PM’s visit to Madrid, joint secretary in the External Affairs Ministry Randhir Jaiswal had said, “Although the technology is good and is globally recognised, there are a lot of technical issues due to which progress has been stalled. In the coming days, we will examine how we will address those issues.”
The Railways had stated as a pre-condition for the trial that it would not entail a commitment to signing the final contract with Talgo.
Talgo trains have light aluminium body coaches.