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Next focus of railways should be on high-speed 250-kph trains: Dr Sudhanshu Mani
Articles- Sep 30,24
In this exclusive interview with Rakesh Rao, Dr Sudhanshu Mani, the retired GM of Integral Coach Factory (ICF) who is considered the brain behind Vande Bharat, highlights on the evolution of the railway sector in the last few years and what the future holds for the sector.
Dr Sudhanshu Mani retired as General Manager, Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, in December 2018 after serving Indian Railways (IR) for 38 years. He led the Train 18/Vande Bharat project, the first ever indigenous semi high-speed train of India, from concept to delivery. He has also authored a book on the subject, My Train 18 Story, among others. He now writes regularly in leading newspapers and portals and works as an Independent Consultant. In this exclusive interview with Rakesh Rao, Dr Sudhanshu Mani highlights on the evolution of the railway sector in the last few years and what the future holds for the sector.
How has the railways sector evolved in the last 5 years with respect to coach manufacturing?
In 2017, when I was heading the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), as the General Manager, we, with some difficulty, managed to get the sanction for the project to develop India's the first indigenous semi-high speed train capable of running at 160 km per hour (kph). In spite of tight deadline for completing the project, we were rearing to do something new instead of producing the same kind of trains. With the active support of the industry (which had developed or had access to latest technologies for propulsion system, brake system, bogies, etc), ICF managed to roll out the first Vande Bharat (VB) trainset (then known as Train 18) in 2018 in record 18-months. Train 18 was India's first indigenously developed semi-high speed train set that was rolled out very quickly and at low cost.
For making VB, there were some departures in the regular train. For the first time in the country, all equipment were mounted below the chassis in VB. Then there were new amenities provided such as talkback facility, CC camera, PIS (passenger information system), etc. It had automatic doors, which remain closed when the train is in motion. New bogie technology ensured smooth ride even at high speed.
While VB train was cleared for 160 kph speed, proliferation of tracks that can support this speed has not happened. So, the train is running at suboptimal speed at present. Because the acceleration-deceleration is fast, Vande Bharat is able to cut down travel time. But, this is nothing compared to what it could have achieved if it was able to run at optimal speed of 160 km. While Vande Bharat was a major milestone in the development of passenger coaches in India using top-class equipment, we need to continue to strive to make it world class in terms of finish of exterior and interiors.
After Vande Bharat Express, the next task was to design the sleeper coach (with 15-20 per cent modification). The sleeper version (manufactured by BEML with the design of ICF), much delayed already, is expected to come into service by this year end. Although indigenisation has increased over the last few years, there have not been many technological upgrades in the train in the last six years. For example, seats, which were imported earlier, are now built in India. Except for wheels and a few critical components, all products that go into Vande Bharat trains are manufactured indigenously. Today, I think, more than 90 per cent is indigenous content.
Keeping in view the lack of any significant development in the train, we are waiting for the next evolution to happen. The next step is to design a train with speed of 240-250 kph on standard gauge. This high-speed train can also open up huge export market. To make a proto type of this high-speed train, it should take approximately three years as many things change when you go from 160 kph to 240 kph speed.
Is upgrading tracks to suit high-speed train time consuming?
Availability of funds (required for upgradation) is not a problem today. Starting from 2014, the government has been investing heavily in infrastructure development, especially railways. Capex funds available for Indian Railways has gone up by 5-6 times in the last 5-7 years - from approximately Rs 400 billion to Rs 2.65 trillion (in FY25). But, utilising these funds toward meaningful projects is the issue. Yes, track upgradation (which is largely contractual civil engineering work) is time consuming; but the progress is very slow. Contract execution has to be improved (track upgradation has to be faster) so that we get the fruits of these faster trains.
Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah 160-km upgrade was announced many years back but we have hardly achieved any meaningful progress in the last 5-6 years.
How has Vande Bharat train helped in developing the supplier ecosystem?
Usually, a project (to develop Vande Bharat train) of this magnitude takes minimum 36 months for completion - right from design to manufacturing stage. A huge number of work (of VB) was outsourced. While body is made by ICF, large number of components (propulsion system, brakes, bogie, automatic doors, other components, etc) is sourced from Indian suppliers. Fitments of all equipment are done in ICF.
As we had a time constraint to complete the project within 18 months (before my retirement from ICF), we roped in suppliers early in the development stage. We were able to instil pride in them for developing India's first semi-high speed train. Message was "pride now, profit later". While the project was to develop and build two trains, it was clear that order flow (for suppliers) will be huge upon successful completion of the project.
We were able to complete the project in 18 months because of our mission-mode and collaborative approach with allied manufacturers.
Whether Indian Railways has been able to maintain this equation with suppliers now, I won't be able to comment as I am not in service at present. But railways have a poor record of vendor management. They open the floodgates under the pretext of public procurement policy and start giving development order here and there, as a result somehow inferior suppliers creep in.
With large number of Vande Bharat trains being rolled out, the quality standards have to be world-class, for which collaboration with high-quality suppliers is crucial. For this to happen, a paradigm shift in procurement provisions should be made for Vande Bharat (and upcoming high-speed trains); it is possible within the existing framework, it was done for Train 18 protos as we cannot use the same ‘open to all’ procurement parameters/procedures like for regular railways. For example, when developing the first VB train, we adopted robust parameters for selecting the supplier, such as the vendor should have previous experience of supplying products for Metro work, high-speed trains, etc. By setting the qualifying standards for suppliers high, we were able to rope in competent vendors in the project and develop the new train in short period of 18 months.
To summarise, the collaboration with industry is extremely important because without it good products cannot be made. We have good manufacturers in the country, what we need is to give them encouragement and assurance that quality will be the most important parameter to pick any products or services for railways.
What are the new areas that you would like Indian Railways to work on to fulfil the future requirements?
First, priority should to develop high-speed train (which can run at 240 kph speed) on standard gauge. Work has been allotted, albeit sadly to BEML and not ICF and should take another 3-4 years for these trains to be available for the service.
Second, India should start developing aluminium body for high-speed trains. Globally, aluminium is a preferred material for constructing coaches as it is lighter, it is energy-efficient, and has better finish, aesthetics and even durability. Because of these qualities, usually for semi-high speed and high-speed trains, aluminium is used for coach construction. Decision to manufacture new versions of Vande Bharat in stainless steel, according to me, is not a good decision.
Aluminium trains require very large profiles/structural members that are extruded in a special plant which is pretty expensive to set up. Although there are big aluminium producers in India, we do not have this kind of facility. Local aluminium producers will be interested in setting up such plants only when large numbers of orders for aluminium trains are given. When I was GM, we tried to get approval for 20 aluminium trains (called Train 20), but because of some bureaucratic reason it didn't happen. In 2022, Indian Railways floated a tender of about Rs 30,000 crore for 100 trains (made from aluminium), which was a bold step but they cancelled the tender in 2024 citing pricing issue. According to the news report, the supplier was ready to supply aluminium-bodied Vande Bharat trains for Rs 145 crore per train set, but railways wanted it for Rs 140 crore. Tenders do not get cancelled for 3 per cent price difference. So, I don't know the real reason for this cancellation. The future of high-speed trains is aluminium and we are nowhere. Nevertheless, we have to work on this and I hope something is done in this direction.
Third, if India wants to be a developed country, then travel for common passengers should be comfortable. Today, passengers have to travel in jam-packed trains. Some say they pay very little fare, so they deserve this. I totally disagree; they deserve comfort and dignity both while travelling. We have to subsidise coaches for these passengers through the money earned from Vande Bharat and other high-end trains where people are willing to pay high-prices. If you run these semi & high-speed trains efficiently, speedily, people will prefer trains to air and you will earn money. Use this money to make trains, preferably all AC coaches except a few, to accommodate everyone. That's my thinking. Railways may suffer another loss of Rs 500 billion or so, which is nothing if you are investing Rs 2.65 trillion in capex. So give everyone AC travel comfortable, maybe cramped, but with the dignity of sitting accommodation assured.
There are solutions like increasing the number of seating capacity in coaches. Don't increase the fare now right now, take the loss. As India develops, people will have money in their pocket and will pay for their transport someday. It is important to improve travel experience for common people.
Another critical area for improvement is safety. Some people say that safety has improved from what it was ten years back. But, it is not a great achievement to boast of when you compare the kind of technologies that are available today. Roll out of Kavach is excruciatingly slow in spite of a decision to employ it as a modern signalling system in preference to imported ones. Artificial intelligence (AI) should be used to improve safety. Safety has improved, but it needs to be further enhanced. There is a need to bring in a safety culture in railways and safety has to be of paramount importance. Zero accidents may be a dream, a movement towards zero accident is possible with so many tools and knowledge available today.
How do you see the future of alternate propulsion system (especially based on hydrogen) for railways?
After going for complete electrification, talks about developing propulsion system based on alternate fuels (like biofuels, hydrogen, fuel cell, etc) is totally misplaced. After realising the mistake, railways said that the hydrogen fuel will be used to run trains where electrification is not possible (like, in heritage sections). But, there are hardly 30-40 such trains, so I don't see much future for hydrogen trains; it is not feasible. For example, in Germany, diesel train routes only were used for promoting hydrogen trains.
You cannot replace electricity with hydrogen. After making huge investment in electrification, it doesn't make any sense to invest in hydrogen technology for railways. The decision to electrify indiscriminately is another inexplicable one as the electricity used for them is generated by burning coal, the most polluting fuel.
Sudhanshu Mani
Integral Coach Factory
Indian Railways
Train 18
Vande Bharat
high-speed train
My Train 18 Story
Rakesh Rao
Indian railway sector
BEML
aluminium body for trains
hydrogen fuel for trains
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