Self-reliant India gears up to replace China goods |
In a boost to the Atma-Nirbhar or Self-reliant push by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the National High-Speed Rail Corporation of India is set to build the country`s first bullet train. The Corporation is pushing its Indian manufacturing partner companies to shoulder three-fourth of the work to come up with alternatives to the high-tech machines needed to construct viaducts, which are currently made only in China. India had to reinvigorate these plans as imports from China were affected due to the recent border tensions between the two nations in the Eastern Ladakh region. The mega carrier and launcher machines, also known as Transporter, Gantry and Full Spam Launcher machines, are found everywhere in China`s large-scale connectivity projects. Most important is laying the girders for the tracks. A vehicle carrying a full girder travels on an already launched girder to place the next girder under this technology. Chinese girder layers have a speed seven times that of the girder launching mechanism commonly used in India. India is able to lay one-and-a-half girders a week, while the Chinese machines enable two girders a day. According to the experts, each machine costs around $9 mn $11 mn. The bullet train project will need up to 30 such machines if India has to build 237 km of track in four years. Indian industry doesn`t have any experience of building high-speed rail systems and these carrier-and-launcher machines are only manufactured in China. Hence the corporation is pushing Indian industry to develop a safe, reliable, and faster solution at home.
|
|
|
|