Chennai: On behalf of the operator Maharashtra Metro, TÜV India is carrying out in-process inspections of trains with aluminium bodies that are to roll in Pune until mid-2023. In addition, the engineers perform Independent Safety Assessments (ISA) of train components. The first two trains from the Indian factory have now been handed over; three trains already delivered were built in Italy.
A total of 34 trains with two driving trailers and one sidecar each are to run at a maximum speed of 85 km/h on the initially 30-kilometre-long line. Only the first three trains were manufactured in Italy, all the others will be produced in the Indian factory.
TÜV India's team of railway specialists headed by Prashant Waghmare is carrying out an Independent Safety Assessment (ISA) on all the vehicles. "We have to be very flexible to meet the handover dates of the trains. There had been some very last-minute changes to vehicles and the manufacturing process," reports Prashant Waghmare. The engineers paid special attention to inspecting the welds because this was the first time the workers at the Titagarh factory in India had built an aluminium body. Mr Waghmare: "The welding technique is different from stainless steel, we have to pay very close attention to that." In addition, all connections in particular, such as hooks and brackets, rivets or clamp connections, were on the checklist of the TÜV India specialists.
Safety assessment for semi-automatic operation
Trains are to run semi-automatically on the network (GoA2): The journey itself will be fully automatic, with he driver or operator responsible for the door control and initiating the journey. However, in case of need, the driving control can be taken over immediately.
The railway specialists from TÜV India monitor the production of the train units and inspect the production itself. Each individual train unit has to be inspected before it is put into opereration; a complete safety assessment is carried out according to the standards of the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC) and according to the specifications of the future operating company.
Metro in Pune to relieve traffic
As the second largest city in the Indian state of Maharashtra, Pune has undergone rapid economic development in recent years and has become an industrial centre: Companies from the automotive, light industry, software and mechanical engineering sectors are at home here. Five million people live in the greater Pune area who want to get to work and back home again. But the transport infrastructure has not been able to keep up with the rapid economic development. That's why the city decided to build a metro – the foundation stone was laid in 2019. Already this year, the first trains are to run on two lines. Another line is to be added next year.
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