Superfast Talgo train to run from Delhi to Mumbai in 12 hours in final test run

NEW DELHI: Can the superfast Spanish Talgo train slash travel time between Delhi and Mumbai by four hours? You will probably know by tomorrow.

The final trial run to determine if the Talgo train can achieve this feat was scheduled at 2.45pm from New Delhi station. The train is expected to reach Mumbai at 2.29 am early Sunday morning.

Talgo aims to deliver passengers at just under 12 hours to their destination. Currently, the superfast Rajdhani Express train takes around 16 hours between New Delhi and Mumbai. The train has nine super light-weight coaches, which it got from Spain in April.

In its penultimate trial run, the Talgo train reached Mumbai 18 minutes late.




The Talgo is seen as a boost to rail minister Suresh Prabhu's ambitious Mission 350 plan to decode possibilities of introducing ultra-high speed technology to run trains at a speed of 500 km per hour.

Prabhu has been pitching for faster movement of trains. "It is dream of the Railways to take not more than 12 hours to travel from one part of India to the other and idea is to enhance the average speed of all trains, so that everyone benefits," Prabhu said at a recent global meet.

In case of ultra high-speed technology, he said "Railways wants to develop it, implement it under Make in India to use it indigenously and to be able to export it also."

He said railways wants to reduce travel time by running high speed trains and was in favour of developing ultra high speed technology under Make in India programme.