New Delhi, March 21 While welcoming the move to develop indigenous bullet trains capable of a maximum speed of 250 kmph, experts have also cautioned the Railway Ministry that scaling up production before testing the prototype could be risky.
This caution comes after reports that the Ministry will soon award a tender for more trains.
In a push towards "Made-In-India" initiatives, the Ministry awarded a contract to Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) in 2024 to develop a pair of 250 kmph bullet trains by 2027.
The Ministry recently informed a parliamentary panel that the first pair of Bharat-made Bullet Trains, named B28, will operate on the 508-km-long Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor. The first phase is expected to open in August 2027 on a 97-km stretch from Surat to Vapi.
The corridor is being constructed with financial assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to operate Japanese-made 320 km/h bullet trains using Japanese signalling technology.
The Ministry defended its decisions before the parliamentary panel, stating that obtaining Japanese-made trains presents challenges, it decided to develop indigenous trains with a 250 kmph speed capacity in the first phase, later improving them to 320 or 350 kmph.
Officials elaborated that Japan offered more advanced E10 Shinkansen trains instead of their earlier proposal of E5 Shinkansen trains, which are currently no longer in production in Japan.
"According to the Japanese proposal, E10 Shinkansen trains are expected to be introduced in Japan by the early 2030s, and thereafter, make necessary design changes to suit Indian climatic conditions, the same is expected to be offered for trial on the MAHSR corridor by 2032. This will delay the start of the whole project; hence, the Ministry decided to go for indigenous B28 trains," a senior railway official said.
The Ministry further awarded a contract to Siemens in 2025 to install a signalling system for B28 trains.
Now, amid reports that the Ministry might award a tender to BEML to develop over a dozen more B28 trains, a section of infrastructure experts, while appreciating the significant progress at the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Corridor, have raised concerns about scaling up production.
"If you look at the history of manufacturing locomotives in India, you will find that we first imported locomotives, then got the technology transferred here and started our production," said Subodh Jain, former Member, Engineering, Railway Board.
He added, "Till now, we have indigenously developed locomotives with a running capacity of 180 kmph. So, going for a 250 kmph train mandates a feasibility test of the prototype."
Jain said that the technology of a 250 kmph train is completely different from a 350 kmph train, as the former cannot be upgraded to the latter by just enhancing propulsion capabilities.
"We first need a proof-of-concept train, whether it is 250 kmph or 350 kmph, before production scale-up," Jain added.
Infrastructure experts said that even in the case of Vande Bharat trains, initially, one pair of trains was developed in 2018, and later, when it became successful, production was scaled up.
"Developing Vande Bharat trains with a capacity of 180 kmph was like taking a step forward, as at that time we already had trains running at 150 and 160 kmph. However, manufacturing trains capable of 250 kmph, or 350 kmph in particular, is a leapfrog. So, deciding to scale up production without any feasibility testing is not advisable," a veteran infra expert said.
Lalit Trivedi, retired General Manager, Indian Railway, seconded the view, saying that the best solution is to import high-speed trains and then enter into their production.
Trivedi said, "Ideally, the government should have taken the E5 Shinkansen trains and Japanese signalling technology for the initial stage to start the operation. Simultaneously, indigenous production should have been scaled up."
Experts added that BEML is undoubtedly one of the best companies; however, it lacks expertise in manufacturing high-speed trains.
Experts also pointed out that the government's negotiations to purchase E-series trains were unsuccessful due to high cost demands. As a result, it awarded a contract to Siemens for an alternative signalling system and the simultaneous development of B28 trains.
"While the effort towards indigenous development of 250 kmph trains is good, it would have been much better if it had been done with a sense of purpose and not as a rebound after the failure of negotiations with the Japanese," another infra expert said.