In a disappointment for the Indian Railways, only two foreign players have expressed their interest in developing the Maglev-based train system in India. After a month-long hunt for global players for the project, only two foreign companies - one from the US and another one from Switzerland - showed interest in the ambitious plan. Four Indian companies, including BHEl, also expressed their interest for Magnet levitation (Maglev) based train systems in the country.
Indian Railways had invited foreign private players to run high-speed trains running at 500 km per hour, faster than the proposed bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
The minimum speed of these trains will be 350 km per hour. While Bullet Train is likely to cost Rs 1,000 crore per km, Maglev train infrastructure per km could be even higher than Rs 4,000 crore per km.
A senior railway official said that Railway Ministry had invited global players to express their interest in developing the ambitious Maglev technology train system but by the last date on Tuesday only six players including four from India participated in the EoI. “Only two global players and that too not much known companies have come forward. This seems to be a disappointment,” said a senior railway official.
Georgian company American Maglev Technology and Zurich based Siwsskraple AG are the only foreign players which expressed their interest for putting Maglev trains in India. While four players from India includes BHEl, Surat based Agile Setia Pvt ltd, Hyderabad based Medha Servo Drives and an individual from Gurugram Sharath M Marathe.
Maglev (derived from magnetic levitation) is a transport method that uses magnetic levitation to move vehicles without touching the ground. With maglev, a vehicle travels along a guideway using magnets to create both lift and propulsion, thereby reducing friction by a great extent and allowing very high speeds. Presently 12 countries are using this technology train systems.
At present Maglev technology is used in most of the European countries and Japan and China. "The expression of interest has been submitted. The modalities and specifications for the project will be finalised at a later stage," said a railway official.
The Centre has proposed to undertake the Maglev project on a public private partnership (PPP) mode. Under this scheme, the railways will provide land required for the project while the private firms will execute and operate the trains.