Art played crucial role in Train 18: Retired ICF GM

India’s first engineless high-speed train – the Vande Bharat Express or Train 18 – began its regular run between New Delhi and Varanasi on Sunday. The man behind this feat revealed that art played a crucial role in driving forward this ambitious project. 

“Art is a huge factor in the success of these missions. Everyone in my team had to present one creative idea every month and execute it themselves. None of their ideas were disparaged,” revealed Mani.

Mani was transferred to ICF to be its General Manager in August 2016. Train 18 was delivered in a record time of 18 months after it was sanctioned in April 2017, within a budget of Rs 100 crore. Besides spearheading the design and delivery of the best train made in India in under two years, Mani had established an extensive rail museum camps in the premises apart from clearing up its lake through bio renewal, a vision that bore fruit when migratory birds visited it in winter. 

All the teams at ICF – the supply, manufacture, design, and finance persons adhered to this rule put forth by their General Manager who retired on December 31. In fact, the year before he retired saw a 33 per cent jump in the production of coaches from the previous year – 3,300 coaches were sent out from ICF apart from producing the prototype of the fasted train made in India. 

“India has the largest network of passenger trains. The cutting down of time in train travel is the need of the hour and led to the conception of Train 18,” said Mani. “The ability to create and think beyond the box is the core of any artform. This is what we have done in the execution of the project,” he added. 

He doesn’t believe that techies are separated from the art world. “I cherish interacting with artists. I have deliberately introduced art into the engineering sphere,” he said. Being a strong believer in visual arts led him to establish the full-fledged rail museum in ICF with art camps, an art gallery, renovation of four other galleries, a green gallery, sculpture camps and installation of sculpture from scrap in the museum, factory and public spaces, a Natya Arangam, an amphitheatre, a water body, a coach restaurant, a museum shop and a movie theatre. 

“Now that I’m a free bird, I’m fully immersed in arts. I am working on reviving an art form in Lucknow and will be able to talk about it soon,” said Mani of his life post retirement.