Various Countries Show Interest In Purchasing Indian Railway’s Train 18 As Global Cost Is Too Expensive

Various countries like Peru, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and West Asian countries are showing interest in importing the Made In India Train 18 even before the trains’ commercial run, News18 reports, citing a senior railway official.

A staff member of the Rolling stock in the Railway Board, Rajesh Agarwal, said, "Many countries have expressed interest in the train set, and we are happy and proud that an indigenously made product is attracting so much interest. The rolling stock market worldwide is worth about 200 billion dollars, and we want a significant share of it. Now, the aim is to successfully run the train.”

According to sources, the train set equivalent to Train 18 standards costs around Rs 250 crore worldwide compared to Rs 100 crore at which the Indian version manufactured by Chennai's Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is priced.

India is the latest entry into the semi-high speed club and is looking forward to pitching Train 18 as a mascot of India’s manufacturing capabilities while hosting the upcoming International High-Speed Rail Association (IHRA) conference in February.

"The production of Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches increased from around 685 in 2014-2015 to 4,016 during the current year. The actual production up to December 2018 has touched 3,106 coaches with three more months to go. In fact, the total LHB production of the first 17 years has been exceeded in the last two years, which is unprecedented,” Agarwal said.

Agarwal adds that the train took 18 months to be built from conception till manufacture.