jis
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Looks like Indian Railways has decided to start using distributed power, AC electric drive, fixed consist for all Rajdhani Expresses, and other significant premium service on the so called Golden Quadrilateral routes, connecting the four major cities of India - New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.
https://www.financialexpress.com/in...arat-express-engineless-train-18-icf/1559768/
This is in addition to converting all short/medium distance daytime premium Shatabdi Expresses to distributed power fixed consist sets too.
The plans are also to increase speeds on the key trunk routes to 160kph (100mph) and target a running time of 12 hours for 1300km to 1600km ( ~800 - 1000 mile - think New York - Chicago) journeys, thus making it possible for these overrnight sleeper service trains to operate on a 7pm departure - 7am arrival type schedule, making them much more attractive for business travel. Incidentally the diagonals of the quadrilateral (Delhi - Chennai or Kolkata - Mumbai) won't meet the 12 hour goal, but they can be brought down to 18 hours or so making them similar to the current Rajdhani schedule between Delhi and Kolkata for example.
The equipment will be manufactured at ICF Perambur (near Chennai), and for the year 2019-20, 8 sets are targeted, of which four will be the Sleeper type, sufficient for covnerting two Rajdhani services to the new equipment - most like one Delhi - Mumbai and one Delhi - Kolkata ones.
https://www.financialexpress.com/in...arat-express-engineless-train-18-icf/1559768/
This is in addition to converting all short/medium distance daytime premium Shatabdi Expresses to distributed power fixed consist sets too.
The plans are also to increase speeds on the key trunk routes to 160kph (100mph) and target a running time of 12 hours for 1300km to 1600km ( ~800 - 1000 mile - think New York - Chicago) journeys, thus making it possible for these overrnight sleeper service trains to operate on a 7pm departure - 7am arrival type schedule, making them much more attractive for business travel. Incidentally the diagonals of the quadrilateral (Delhi - Chennai or Kolkata - Mumbai) won't meet the 12 hour goal, but they can be brought down to 18 hours or so making them similar to the current Rajdhani schedule between Delhi and Kolkata for example.
The equipment will be manufactured at ICF Perambur (near Chennai), and for the year 2019-20, 8 sets are targeted, of which four will be the Sleeper type, sufficient for covnerting two Rajdhani services to the new equipment - most like one Delhi - Mumbai and one Delhi - Kolkata ones.