Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will hold a review meeting at the BEML facility in Bengaluru today. He is likely to seek details on progress in the indigenous design and development of High-Speed Rail. Akashvani correspondent reports that after successfully designing and manufacturing India’s first Vande Bharat Sleeper trainset, BEML is now gearing up to power the next chapter of India’s rail journey with the development of indigenous High-Speed Rail.

BEML’s state-of-the-art Aditya Rail Complex in Bengaluru is evolving into a strategic hub for next-generation train manufacturing. A consortium of BEML and Medha Servo Drives has secured an 866.87 crore rupee contract from Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, for the design, manufacturing and commissioning of two indigenous High-Speed Trainsets for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor.

The train is named B28. It proposes to have a Design speed of 280 kmph and an operational speed of 250 kmph. It can accelerate from zero to 100 kmph in 52 seconds. This is a fully Make-in-India initiative to reduce dependence on imported Japanese Shinkansen technology. The first prototype trainset rollout is targeted for the beginning of next year. BEML is also planning to develop the B35 trainset with a design speed of 350 kmph by 2030 for future corridors like Delhi-Varanasi and Hyderabad-Chennai.