The railway ministry, after the successful trial of Talgo trains had shown interest in deploying these in short-distance routes on a profit-sharing basis (File photo)

The railway ministry, after the successful trial of Talgo trains had shown interest in deploying these in short-distance routes on a profit-sharing basis

It may be the end of the government's plan to roll out foreign made high-speed trains on Indian tracks, as top officials of railway ministry have confirmed that the government will not consider the introduction of Spanish Talgo trains in the country without going through the tender process.

As of now no foreign company has offered Indian Railway the same technology and so railway ministry officials were reluctant to go for direct agreement with the Talgo.

The railway ministry, after the successful trial of Talgo train in India in 2016, had shown interest in deploying these trains in short-distance routes like Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Delhi-Lucknow, Bengaluru-Chennai or Delhi-Amritsar on a profitsharing basis.committee was also formed to look into the matters but the plan could not be materialised.

"The Talgo trains cannot come through direct agreement. It has to come via open tender. But there is no other bidder offering the same technology. This makes the procurement of Talgo trains nearly impossible," said a senior railway board official.

Notably, after the railway ministry had shown interest, Talgo offered to send four trains to India to operate on different routes. Talgo had also agreed to customise the trains as per Indian conditions and infrastructure.

As per the plans, the Talgo was also ready to set up its manufacturing plant in India. Railway officials said the Talgo trains can be operated on existing tracks.

The light-weight design and advanced suspension technology allows Talgo trains to travel faster and minimises risks of accidents and puts less force on existing tracks during highspeed manoeuvre.

Due to their light weight, these trains can even negotiate sharp curves at high speed. While the average speed of Rajdhani and Shatabdi coaches are at a dismal 70 kmph, Talgo trains can race at an average speed of 105 kmph on the same tracks.

Similarly, the Talgo trains can attain the maximum speed of 180 kmph as against the top speed of 140 km by Rajdhani Express. Trial run for Talgo train was conducted in September 2016 after a nine-coach Talgo train successfully completed the final run between Delhi and Mumbai, conducted by the Indian Railways.

The 1,400-km journey between Delhi and Mumbai takes at least 16 hours for the Rajdhani Express. The Talgo train, on the other hand, completed the journey in less than 12 hours. The Indian Railways is desperately looking for companies to manufacture semi-high speed trains in India.

This assumes greater significance as the ministry is all set to convert two major rail routes - Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah - into semi high speed corridors by next year.

The 1384-km Delhi-Mumbai corridor and 1450-km Delhi-Howrah corridor are being upgraded at the cost of 18,000 crore to allow the movement of trains at 160 kmph. Once operational, the railways would require more trains to run at the high speed.

At the same time, study is underway on Delhi-Chandigarh (244 km), Nagpur-Secunderabad (575 km), Chennai- Kazipet (650 km) corridors to upgrade them for semi-high speed trains.

Feasibility study for high speed rail on Mysuru-Bengaluru-Chennai corridor is also underway with the help of German railway.