Indian Railways is planning to introduce tilting trains in the country by 2025. This technology will be used in around 100 Vande Bharat trains to be built in the coming years. A senior railway official told PTI that the railways will tie up with a technology partner to introduce tilting trains in the country. He said that this technology will be made available in 100 Vande Bharat trains in the next two to three years.
How do tilting trains work?
Generally, the position of passengers and objects inside the train changes when the train turns along a curved railway track. Seated passengers lean to one side of the train and standing passengers lose their balance. However, this is not the case with tilting trains. A motion control technology is used in tilting trains. It will help control the movement of passengers inside the train. In India, tilting trains will have a mechanism that allows them to run at high speeds on standard broad-gauge tracks.
In 2017, the Ministry of Railways signed an agreement with Switzerland to develop tilting trains in India. Two MoUs were signed with the Federal Department of Environment and Transport Communications of the Swiss Confederation in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The first agreement was a follow-up to another bilateral collaboration negotiated in 2016 between then Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and the Swiss Ambassador. The MoU included cooperation in the areas of Traction Rolling Stock, Electric Multiple Unit, Train Sets, Traction Propulsion Equipment Freight and Tilting Trains.
Countries such as Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, UK, Switzerland, China, Germany and Romania are already operating tilting trains. Tilting trains in Italy are known as Pendolino. The trains, which mean pendulum in Italian, are manufactured by Alstom Ferroviaria. These trains travel at a speed of 250 km per hour. These trains use tilttronics technology and hydraulic tilting bogies.
Bombardier Class 221 Super Voyager diesel trains and Class 390 Pendolino trains were introduced to the UK in early 2002. The maximum speed of the Class 390 Pendolino is 225 kmph. The train runs between London and Scotland.
Summary: Much like a motorbike moving on a winding road, the tilting technology will enable trains to easily manoeuvre curves without turning their speed down by a notch. As many as 100 Vande Bharat trains produced over the next few years will be equipped with this technology, hoping to improve their speed
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