Once ready, the dedicated testing track facility, the first in India, being designed as per international standards, in Jodhpur Division near Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan will boost manufacturing of trains and also generate employment, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said while speaking to News18.
Earlier this week, News18 visited the under-construction site of the project, which will have the capacity to test trains running at more than 220 kmph. After the facility is completed, India will become the first country to have comprehensive testing facilities for rolling stock, as per international standards.
“Test track is an important technology. With this, all new trains or signaling systems can be tested. The trains will be tested on different parameters. KAVACH and Vande Bharat are getting popular day by day and several countries want to have these in their country. With this testing facility, the trains and technologies can be tested in a better way before being exported,” the minister said.
Manufacturing of trains and KAVACH, he added, will generate a lot of direct and indirect employment.
“The more we manufacture, the more jobs will be created. This testing facility will enable export and enhance manufacturing,” he added.
According to the Ministry, the broad-gauge testing facility is around 60 km long and is being developed between Gudha-Thathana Mithri in Jodhpur Division, 70 km from Jaipur in Rajasthan.
FOUR PARTS
The project is divided into four parts – main line (23 km), high-speed loop at Gudha (13 km), accelerated testing loop at Nawa (3 km) and curve testing loop at Mithri (20 km).
The work on the twisted track at Gudha (4.5 km) was completed in December 2020. Work on the 31.5-km high-speed stretch and 3-km accelerated testing loop is on in full swing and is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.
“Testing and trial of various rolling stocks, including semi-high-speed trains (Vande Bharat train sets), will start in 2023-24 at the facilities being developed in Nawa. Land acquisition for the curve testing loop at Mithri (20 km) is in advanced stage and it will be in operation by the end of 2024,” the minister said.
HOW IT WILL HELP
Explaining why a dedicated test track was the need of the hour, Ramavtar Saini, Chief Engineer, Test Track Project, said that currently a running track is used for testing. These are the tracks where passenger trains are running and they have to be blocked for days.
“We need to stop the train movement on these tracks and change and modify it as per the testing needs. After the test is completed, the track has to be restored for normal train movement. It takes a lot of time. With this dedicated track, we can do all this at a faster pace, without disturbing the regular movement of trains,” Saini told News18.
Comprehensive testing of trains and its components can be done at the facility. Testing of riding characteristics and behavior of the vehicles as per international standards, study of rail-wheel interaction forces, crashworthiness testing, stability testing, curve testing and accelerated testing of components are being developed as part of the project.
“We can run trains at as high as 220 kmph and even more on these tracks. Further, rolling stocks manufactured across the world will be tested at this facility,” he added.
The official also said that as technology is changing at a fast pace, we cannot waste so much time on testing.
“This dedicated line will save a lot of cost and time. It will be the first-of-its-kind in the world. All types of possible curves can be tested here. This is the only facility where all types of testing can be done in one place. The industry will design and manufacture and we will test it here,” he said.
The project is expected to be fully functional by the end of 2024.
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