PM to flag off India's Superfast train: All you need to know

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Bihar today where he is scheduled to take part in the concluding ceremony of the Champaran Satyagraha centenary celebrations at Motihari and flag off a number of railway projects, including India's first 12,000 horsepower high-speed electric locomotive under the Make-in-India project. 

Here's all you need to know about India's Superfast Train:
The electric locomotive, with a 12,000 horsepower (HP), will be flagged off from Bihar's Madhepura loco factory by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. Till now, the most powerful electric engine in India was of 6,000 HP. With the launch of this electric locomotive, India will join the elite list of countries, including Russia, China, Germany and Sweden. The electric locomotive has been developed at Madhepura's Electric Locomotive Factory and is the first big Make-in-India project completed by Alstom of France. The new bi-weekly train Humsafar Express will connect Katihar to New Delhi. The Prime Minister will also launch electrification work of Motihari-Muzaffarpur rail line and doubling of Muzaffarpur-Narkatiyaganj railway track.

PM Modi will also dedicate to the nation a locomotive developed at the Electric Locomotive Factory, a collaboration between India and France, in Madhepura. This is the first major FDI Foreign Direct Investment project in the rail sector. India will get 800 high horsepower electric locomotives within a span of 11 years at a cost of Rs. 20,000 crore. While the current fiscal will see four more locomotives within the current fiscal, 2019-20 will see a manufacture of 35 electric locomotives at the Madhepura facility. About 35 locos will be manufactured at the Madhepura facility in the next fiscal (2019-20) and 60 in 2020-21. After that, the factory will every year produce 100 locos till the target of 800 is reached over 11 years. The new locomotives are aimed at bringing down operating costs for the Railways and cutting down the greenhouse gas emissions.