High-Speed Rail, Finally Made in India
India is preparing to begin manufacturing its first indigenously designed highspeed train, marking a major step beyond semi-high-speed services like Vande Bharat. The design phase led by a consortium of BEML and Medha under contract from the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is nearing completion, and production is expected to start as early as April–June 2026. The trainsets are being built for an operational speed of around 250 km/h, with prototypes targeted for rollout by December 2026 and commercial services likely by 2027 on the Mumbai– Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor. The project involves detailed component design work (carbody, bogies, suspension, TCMS, signalling) and is intended to move India from importing high-speed sets to building them at home.