6 top players keen to develop ultra high-speed trains: Suresh Prabhu

New Delhi: Six major global players have shown keen interest in developing ultra high-speed trains in the country, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said here Thursday.

"Using technology is... The next big thing, which is going to happen in the transportation sector... We just had a meeting in Delhi on September 2. We got six top global companies to come and talk about technological transportation technology that we will develop, co-develop, manufacture and use in India and then maybe, use outside the country," Prabhu said while addressing the India Economic Summit here.

He spoke of the challenges of the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution', for which the need of the hour is "local solution with a global approach". Technology, Prabhu said, is something which is going to "revolutionise the entire stream".

Indian Railways had floated expression of interest for developing ultra high-speed trains in the country in which top global companies have shown interest.

Now, the Railways is finalising an action plan to develop a short-track for testing these ultra high-speed trains which are expected to travel at a speed of more than 400 km per hour.

However, the Railways is going ahead with its plan for introducing bullet train that will run at 300 km per hour between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, for which Japan has placed loans as well as technology.

"Our imagination is the only limit for technological development... We need local solutions as well as a global approach to the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution," he said.

Stressing on the need for solutions to mitigate the adverse impact on environment and society, Prabhu said: "We must have space to find out how these two fundamental issues would be compatible."

He maintained that India has always been open to new technology and "that is how India was the largest economy in the world some centuries ago".