India's 7,000-km bullet rail plan gets homegrown signalling push

New Delhi: The Indian Railways is readying its own high-speed rail signalling protocol, the Bharat Train Control System (BTCS), senior officials said.

This will be tailored for Indian conditions and eliminate dependence on foreign technology protocols for the nearly 7,000-km new bullet-train corridors planned in India.

Approvals for designs and route plans for future bullet-train corridors are also expected to be finalised by mid-2027.


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"India will develop its own control protocols for high-speed rail," a senior official told ET, adding this will build upon the experience of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad

High Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor where the European Train Control System (ETCS) is being installed.

"The Bharat Train Control System will be open-source, cost-effective and can be tailored to requirements of rapid and safe deployment across the country," the official said, adding that once ready, it could be offered to other countries as well.

"Domestic railway design and equipment suppliers will get a fillip from the country's own high-speed train operation protocols," the official added.

Last June, National High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd awarded a Rs 4,100 crore signalling system contract for the MAHSR corridor to a consortium of India's Dineshchandra R Agrawal Infracon Pvt Ltd and Siemens of Germany. The two are implementing ETCS Level 2-based systems that are designed to support operations at speeds up to 350 km an hour.

The Delhi-Meerut Rapid Rail Corridor, where India's fastest train currently operates, also has ETCS Level 2 signalling which was implemented by France's Alstom.

Sector watchers said India's decision to opt for ETCS Level 2 signalling on the Japan-backed MAHSR opened the project for a wider range of equipment suppliers.

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Earlier this month, former Japan minister Hideki Makihara accused India of not relying solely on Japanese technology for the MAHSR project, flagging the decision to opt for open-source signalling protocols instead of Japan's Digital Automatic Train Control.

Responding to concerns, officials said trains offered by Japan's Hitachi are compatible with ETCS but "offers from them (Japan) need to come first".

India is also "open to allowing switchover to Japanese protocols once suppliers place appropriate proposals", the official added.