The government on Wednesday said the Indian Railways have floated a tender inviting 'Expression of Interest' (EOI) for the development of high speed MAGLEV (magnetic levitation) trains in India.
"Indian Railways have floated an EOI for designing, building, commissioning, operation, running and maintenance of levitation based train system on public private partnership (PPP) basis, " Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
The Minister informed Parliament that the route for the high speed MAGLEV project "has not been defined at such an early stage of the project since the initial thrust is on developing and implementing a cost - effective solution of such a technology. "
Elaborating the features of the MAGLEV trains, the Minister said, the vehicle carrying passenger or goods shall ride on a cushion of air which is generated by using magnets.
Gohain emphasised that very high speeds can be achieved in such a ground - based transport system.
"The levitation - based trains shall be powered by electricity, " Gohain added.