Train 18-- built at a cost of Rs 100 crore-- is deemed as a successor to the premier Shatabdi Express.
Train 18, an ingenuously built engineless train, has officially become the fastest train in the country after it managed to cruise at a sustained speed of 180 km per hour during a trial run. "Need for Speed: Train 18 seen cruising at a sustained 180Km/h, officially becoming the fastest train in India," Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced through a tweet on Wednesday.
Built at a cost of Rs 100 crore, Train 18 is deemed as a successor to the premier Shatabdi Express.
The state-of-the-art comes fitted with amenities at par with the best in the world. It has contemporary passenger amenities like on-board infotainment and GPS based passenger information system, CCTV, automatic sliding doors with retractable coach footsteps and zero discharge vacuum-based bio-toilets, among others, news agency PTI reported.
The train will have two executive compartments which will have 52 seats each and trailer coaches will have 78 seats each. The executive class will have rotating seats to match the direction of the train.
The Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety or CCRS has given his clearance -- a must for the commercial run of any new service -- for the launch of Train-18 with certain conditions. The CCRS has recommended the fencing of tracks at vulnerable locations to ensure safety.
Once commissioned, Train 18 will replace Shatabdi trains and will initially run from Delhi to Varanasi.