Talgo’s train has finally completed its Delhi to Mumbai run in 12 hours 36 minutes (not accounting for delay), beating Rajdhani Express, which takes around 15 hours and 50 minutes. The train departed from Delhi on Friday afternoon and reached Mumbai on time in the early hours of Saturday morning, despite heavy rainfall on the Surat to Mumbai stretch. Vijay Kumar, Executive Director, Infrastructure at Railway Board, who was in the train during this run said, “The train’s trial was successful despite heavy rainfall. We were delayed by around 18 minutes on account of unusual occurrences, which increased the total journey time a bit, but that had nothing to do with Talgo. So all in all, from the perspective of testing Talgo’s claims, the trial was completed in 12 hours and 36 minutes. We used a diesel engine of the Indian Railways. For the trial on August 1, we had used an electric engine.” According to a Twitter post put out by Western Railway, Talgo took 12 hours 55 minutes. This is the gross time taken, including the delay that Kumar spoke of.
Kumar told FE Online, “The maximum speed that we attained was 130 kmph, and what was different about today’s trial was that the cant deficiency was 125mm, that is, we increased the speed of the train on the curves.” Asked about the number of curves on the stretch, Kumar said, “If you count all, the small and the big curves, the total number is 795. So you can understand why it’s is important to try higher speeds on the curves.”
Watch: Exclusive interior preview of Talgo’s coaches
Now, for the August 9 trial, a maximum speed of 140 kmph will be tried, with the objective of taking 12 hours and 4 minutes. All eyes will however be on the August 12 run, which will be conducted at a maximum speed of 150 kmph. The train will aim to complete the Delhi to Mumbai Rajdhani route journey in less than 12 hours, that is in, 11 hours and 38 minutes! The remaining trials will also take place from Delhi to Mumbai and not Mumbai to Delhi because Indian Railways wants to check all technical parameters on the same track. The August 1 trial of Talgo had been been hindered by very heavy rainfall that had led to track washout on the Surat to Mumbai stretch. The train had been delayed, but owing to the fact that its parameters had met Talgo’s claim from Delhi to Surat, Indian Railways had declared the trial a success.