Vande Bharat Express trains, also known as Train 18, will get ‘first-in-India’ 180-degree reciprocating seats made by Tata Steel. The Tata group company and India’s largest steel maker is planning to spend Rs 3,000 crore on R&D by FY26 and is planning to introduce seating arrangement for Vande Bharat Express trains from September 2022. Tata Steel’s composites division has bagged a bulk order of Rs 145 crore for seating systems. Vande Bharat Express which includes supply of complete seating arrangement for 22 train sets, each train set having 16 coaches. This will be the first time that India-made seats will be installed in semi-high speed trains.
Not just 180 degree rotating seats, Vande Bharat trains Aircraft-style passenger amenities will also be available. “This is a first-of-its-kind supply in India, which will be completed in 12 months starting September 2022,” said Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice President (Technology and New Materials Business), Tata Steel.
“The composites industry in India is dominated by institutional businesses and is largely dependent on the infrastructure, industrial and railway sectors. One of the major initiatives of the composites business was to transition to Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) applications where steel is currently used. Railways has been a promising customer for Tata Steel’s FRP composites business.”
Fiber Reinforced Polymer Seats
The FRP used in the seats will have high corrosion resistance and low maintenance cost. In addition, it will conform to the European standard of fire retardant property, and provide superior safety and comfort to the passengers. Vande Bharat Express, also known as Train 18, is the second fastest train in India, running at a speed of 130 km/h.
Company officials said the company is targeting to be among the ‘Top 5 in technology in the steel industry globally by 2030’ and will be one of the key enablers to achieve technology leadership. Rapid conversion of ideas into pilot testing and commercialization Is.
Bhattacharjee said Tata Steel is setting up a greenfield facility to manufacture sandwich panels. “Tata Steel is setting up a greenfield facility in Khopoli, Maharashtra in collaboration with a technology partner from the Netherlands.”
The facility will manufacture aluminum honeycomb cored sandwich panels, which will be primarily used for interiors of rail and metro coaches. Major customers of the unit will be global metro and rail coach OEMs and Indian Railways as well.”