On August 2, 2021, Titagarh Wagons Ltd, a company based out of Titagarh in West Bengal, held a virtual ceremony to display its first train for Pune Metro (Maharashtra) which was manufactured by its subsidiary in Italy (Europe), Titagarh Firema SpA Plant. It will be India’s first lightest metro trainset as it is being manufactured with Aluminium for the first time in our country.
- The subsidiary was awarded a contract for the design, manufacture and supply of 34 trains of three coaches each for Pune Project of Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MAHA-METRO) on September 12, 2019.
- The virtual ceremony was attended by Ambassador of India to Italy, Neena Malhotra; Ambassador of Italy to India, Vincenzo de Luca; Maharashtra Metro Cooperation Managing Director Brijesh Dixit; and others.
Key Points:
i.The first train is scheduled to arrive in Pune in September, 2021.
ii.Only three of the 34 trains (102 coaches) will be manufactured in Italy. The rest will be manufactured at Titagarh Kolkata’s newly upgraded plant.
- All 34 trains are scheduled by March, 2024.
iii.These metro coaches are lighter (15.5T axle load) than the lightest coaches at present, which are at Nagpur-Metro (16T axle load).
iv.The double-walled structure with extruded sections of the car body made of Aluminium in the Metro coaches provides the required strength while reducing the weight.
v.These ultra-modern metro coaches cater highest safety standards, low carbon emission and better fuel efficiency.
About Pune Metro:
i.It consists of two corridors, namely 17.4 km long PCMC (Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation) – Swargate with 14 stations and 15.7 km long Vanaz – Ramwadi with 16 stations.
ii.The MAHA-METRO, a 50:50 jointly owned company of the government of India and the government of Maharashtra, is the executing agency of the Rs 11,420 crore Pune Metro project.
First Goods Train on Haldibari-Chilahati rail link flagged off after 1965
The first goods train on Haldibari (West Bengal) – Chilahati (Bangladesh) rail link was flagged off carrying construction material (stone chips) after 1965. It is a 5th rail link between India and Bangladesh which has been operational since December 2020 following inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
- The distance between Haldibari Railway Station to the international border is 4.5 km and 7.5 km from Chilahati.
- This route is the shortest for transit of goods between the two nations especially from Assam, Bengal, Nepal and Bhutan to Bangladesh.
It will encourage the economic & social development of the region along with growth of regional trade.
Points to be noted:
i.Other 4 rail links between India and Bangladesh are Petrapole (India) and Benapole (Bangladesh); Gede (India) and Darshana (Bangladesh); Singhabad (India) and Rohanpur (Bangladesh), Radhikapur (India) and Birol (Bangladesh).
- All rail links from India are in West Bengal.
ii.The Haldibari-Chilahati rail link between India and Bangladesh (the then East Pakistan) was operational till 1965.
Recent Related News:
i.On 21st June 2021, the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd.(NHSRCL) collaborated with Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) to formulate World’s 1st Green Rating System for High-Speed Rails (HSR). Under this collaboration, MAHSR (Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail) corridor, which is currently under the control of NHSRC will be included for the Green HSR Rating program of IGBC.
About Indian Railways:
Establishment– 1853
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) & Chairman of Railway Board – Suneet Sharma
Headquarters – New Delhi
