‘Vande Bharat’ Should Eye 5th Generation TGV M Train: Ex-Official

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400 Innovations Get 20% Extra Seats in 5th generation TGV M Trainsets

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, March 17: A lift to help rail passengers enter a train coach in wheelchair! A Bluetooth navigation tool to help visually challenged rail passengers to find the seat in a train!

A train journey in India cannot be envisioned without being pushed by swelling crowds at stations. Even passengers with confirmed berths in trains sometimes fail to board. But imagining future may not pinch the purse.

A former Railway Board additional member has thrown challenge for the makers of ‘Vande Bharat’ trains to look into future and ride innovations. He cited the example of TGV M trainsets of France.

Two thousand engineers joined the task to design the fifth-generation trainsets. In 2016, they put their minds together. After nine years, their 400 innovations found approvals. Before induction next year, the 5^th generation trainsets will undergo 1 million km of tests with no passengers onboard. They will be handed over for induction to SNCF in June next year.

Ravi S Kochak has suggested that long-distance Vande Bharat trains should aim for design makeovers on the lines of TGV M trainsets of France. Giving his suggestion for Vande Bharat Sleeperette (VBS), Kochak, who was an additional member in the Railway Board, wrote on LinkedIn: “It is quick and easy to manufacture an overnight sleeperette, with chairs which can be laid back, like in airlines; 180 degrees for 1st class; and perhaps 160 degrees in 2nd class; and maybe at two levels, to increase capacity.”

After all, passengers in airlines are willing to travel for nine hours in reclining chairs, and also in long distance flights up to 18 hours for routes such as Delhi and San Franscico, added the ex-rail official.

He reminded that the Rajdhani trains in ‘70s started with overnight chair-cars. “No harm in starting long distance VBS,” added Kochak.

He asked rolling stock designers to study Alston-SNCF TGV fleet of 5^th generation trainsets for inspiration. “A lift for wheelchair passengers. This will enable wheelchair users to board the train ‘in full autonomy’ for the first time. Bluetooth-powered navigation tools to help visually impaired travelers find their way through the train,” added Kochak.

“TGV M is designed to be a modular and flexible platform. The nine-car set unveiled in Paris is 202 m long and has 586 seats,” said Railway Gazette International in a report, adding that it has “20% more seats than most recent iterations of the Duplex design”.

A high-capacity variant could carry up to 740 passengers, the Gazette quoted Alstom officials saying. “The train is equipped with ETCS, TVM and KVB signaling. It can operate on 1·5 kV DC and 25 kV 50 Hz electrification,” added the Gazette.

With a maximum speed of 320 km/h, TGV M train has regenerative braking and its energy consumption is expected to be 20% lower than SNCF’s existing trains, said the Gazette.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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