Indian Railways' high-speed aluminium-bodied Talgo project on fast track

<p>In a recent development the Technology Mission for Indian Railways (TMIR) has been reported to be considering a partnership with India&rsquo;s premiere research institutes Jawaharlal Nehru Aluminium Research Development and Design Centre (JNARDDC) and Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) to develop an aluminium alloy for the Talgo bullet train coaches.<br /><br />Ever since Indian Railways floated the idea of replacing steel with a light metal alloy for the manufacturing of railway coaches and wagons, JNARDDC&rsquo;s name came up as the only institution working on aluminium alloy research. <br /><br />&ldquo;Aluminium is a sensitive material and growth of aluminium industry is good in our country. Hence, we are working on treating it as a replacement of steel for construction of railway coaches and wagons in future,&rdquo; said Prof N S Vyas, Chairman, TMIR.<br /><br />According to Dr Anupam Agnihotri, Director, JNARDDC, &ldquo;Aluminium alloys are approximately one-third of steel and we are able to develop hard alloy that will replace steel, paving way for manufacture of aluminium-based coaches.&rdquo; <br /><br /><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/aluminium-coaches.jpg" alt="News" width="480" height="329" /><br /><br />Aluminium coaches are widely being utilised by Indian Metro Rail and a few high-speed trains for the last few years but all are imported. The latest move to develop <a href="http://www.alcircle.com/end_user/newscircle/transport/detail/25909/indian-railways-to-float-global-tender-for-procuring-300-aluminium-coaches" target="_blank">aluminium alloy coaches for Railways</a> within the country is expected to provide the &lsquo;Make in India&rsquo; drive its much needed momentum.<br /><br />Senior officials from JNARDDC and VNIT met a few days ago to discuss further plans regarding initiating the joint venture. Two months ago, a JNARDDC delegation visited Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) at Lucknow to discuss the project. The Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) is expected to be completed within a month, reported industry sources. <br /><br />{googleAdsense}<br /><br />The ministry of Indian railways is also known to be mulling a talk with the Empowered Committee on Innovation Collaborations regarding acquiring the lightweight aluminium-bodied Talgo coaches on a &lsquo;preferential basis.&rsquo; As per rules, railways can award contracts to lease or buy only through a global tendering process. However, the Committee, constituted in October 2015 as a part of the National Institution for Transforming India (Niti) Aayog has been vested with the power to allow a contract to be awarded to a particular firm provided it qualifies certain criteria of bringing value to the country.<br /><br />&ldquo;We can lease a couple of rakes and we plan to go to the Committee to seek permission to engage with Talgo directly,&rdquo; said an official at the ministry of railways.</p>