In a bid to reduce the travel time on two of India’s fastest train services, all Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains will soon be powered by two engines.
The project which comes under Union Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu’s ‘Mission Raftaar’ aims to increase the speeds of existing trains with innovative and low-cost engineering solutions.
According to a report by the Indian Express, it is expected that this initiative may reduce the travel time of Mumbai Rajdhani by one hour and up to two hours in case of the Howrah Rajdhani.
The trains will use push-and-pull technique which is usually used in freight trains on the Mumbai-Pune ghat sections. One engine will pull the train from the front, the second engine will be attached to the rear, which will give the extra push to accelerate and decelerate.
Trains have to stop for speed restrictions and stoppages along the entire Indian Railways network. A lot of time is wasted in both slowing down as well as in gaining momentum before and after stoppages. With two engines, the push-and-pull technology is expected to significantly save time.
(Feature image source: PTI)