India. Mumbai: The Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Prakash Javadekar inaugurated NATRAX- the High-Speed Track (HST) developed for automobiles,in an area of 1000 acres of land at Indore in Madhya Pradesh, on Tuesday.
The track is stated to be the longest such track in Asia and the world’s fifth longest HST for automobiles. It will be a one-stop solution for all sorts of high-speed performance tests for the widest categories of vehicles from 2 wheelers to heavy tractor-trailers, being one of the largest in the world. The vehicle will be able to achieve a max speed of 375 Kmph on curves with steering control and it has less banking on ovals making it also one of the safest test tracks globally.
Speaking at the e-inauguration of the world-class 11.3 km High-Speed Track(HST), Javadekar stated that India is destined to become a hub of automobiles, manufacturing, and spare parts. “ We are fast moving towards an ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India) and all-around efforts are being made in this direction. The heavy industries ministry is committed to fulfill the Prime Minister’s dream of ensuring that India becomes a hub of auto manufacturing. The expanding automobiles and manufacturing industries will help generate employment. The projects in railways, highways, and waterways which were languishing for years are today getting completed because of the strong political will”.
The Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Arjun Ram Meghwal, said, the government is promoting the manufacturing and automobile industry as it will help to empower the nation at a larger scale.
The track will be useful to measure the speeding capabilities of high-end cars like BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Tesla among others, which cannot be measured on any of the test tracks in India yet. The central location of the track will help attract foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMS), since it will become more accessible for the development of prototype cars for Indian conditions. At preset foreign OEMs go to their respective high-speed tracks abroad to test the speeding requirements.
NATRAX is one of the state-of-the-art automotive testing and certification centre set up under NATRiP, a flagship project of the Union Ministry of Heavy Industries, planned under the Automotive Mission Plan launched by the Government of India. It is located near the industrial township of Pithampur in Dhar district, about 50 km from Indore, the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh. It is situated on National Highway No.3 By-Pass Road (Indore- Mumbai).
The NATRAX centre has multiple test capabilities like measurements of maximum speed, acceleration, constant speed fuel consumption, emission tests through real road driving simulation, high-speed handling, and stability evaluation duringmanoeuvering such as lane change, high-speed durability testing, etc. and is a center of excellence for vehicle dynamics, as per an official statement by the ministry.
