Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav made an optimistic plan of introducing high-speed bullet trains that would run at more than 300 km/hour in the Interim Railway Budget. However, the long-drawn plans for Maglev trains running on magnetic tracks proposed for six routes in Mumbai metropolitan region is still biting dust.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav made an optimistic plan of introducing high-speed bullet trains that would run at more than 300 km/hour in the Interim Railway Budget. However, the long-drawn plans for Maglev trains running on magnetic tracks proposed for six routes in Mumbai metropolitan region is still biting dust.
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The feasibility report for Maglev trains was supposed to be submitted by a German based company named Vossing for these six routes. A senior bureaucrat involved in the project said, "The project hasn't moved much since it's idea was floated in 2007."
The magnetic levitation (Maglev) train routes planned by the Maharashtra government goes from Panvel to Khopoli (30 km), Panvel to Alibag (60 km), Panvel to Santacruz airport (45 km) and Santacruz airport to Nariman Point (18 km), Santacruz airport to Goregaon (15 km) and Santacruz airport to Kalyan (50 km).
Apart from this they also wanted to connect Mumbai with Nagpur via Nanded, at a distance of 900 km. Mantralaya officials said that the six routes were being considered due to the proposed airport at Panvel, while work on a multi-cargo hub at Nagpur is underway.
Meanwhile, Lalu has also proposed bullet train for the 635 km long Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad at a cost of Rs 70 crore per km.
In Maglev technology, powerful magnets lift the train 10 mm above the track, while other magnets will be used for power speed and braking. The electromagnets that power the train consume much lesser energy than an aircraft and they run at a speed of 300-350 km/hr. The cost of the building the infrastructure along with tracks and trains will cost not less than Rs 8,000 crore.