New Delhi : The Indian Railway is exploring to go for the next generation Maglev trains that are two times faster than the proposed bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Maglev stands for “magnetic levitation,” a system that uses magnetic levitation to suspend and propel vehicles with magnets without touching the ground.
Their operation may be handed over to a private agency since they will run on a system that is entirely different from the existing railway network, the Railway ministry sources said.
They said the ministry has entrusted the task to RITES, its engineering consultancy company set up in 1974, to explore the feasibility of developing the corridor for these trains in the PPP mode and go for a detailed project report if the project is found feasible.Since the project requires huge investment, the ministry sources said the government has no option except to develop it on the PPP model.
They said the corridor for the new trains may be developed along the contested stretches like Delhi-Howrah, Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Chennai to ensure adequate passenger footfall to keep the fares on the lower side.
The ministry had sought the expression of interest to develop these high speed trains and six private companies, including two global firms, responded. The global companies are American Maglev Technology Inc and SwissRapide AG. The Indian applicans are the public sector Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) and three lesser known entities. Globally, on very few countries have gone for the Maglev systems and they include China, Japan, Germany, South Korea and the United States.
