India reached another amazing achievement on Tuesday when Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Prakash Javadekar inaugurated NATRAX- the High Speed Track(HST) in Indore which is the longest such track in Asia. NATRAX, developed in an area of 1,000 acres of land, is 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.
Speaking at the e-inauguration of the world-class 11.3 km High Speed Track, Javadekar stated that India is destined to become a hub of automobiles, manufacturing, and spare parts. The Minister said, we are fast moving towards an ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ and all-round efforts are being made in this direction.
He said, his ministry is committed to fulfil Prime Minister’s dream of ensuring that India becomes a hub of auto manufacturing. He said, expanding automobiles and manufacturing industries will help generate employment. The Union Minister further said that projects in railways, highways and waterways which were languishing for years are today getting completed because of the strong political will.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Arjun Ram Meghwal, said, the government is promoting manufacturing and automobile industry as it will help empowering the nation at a larger scale.
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 during manoeuvred such as lane change, high speed durability testing, etc. and is a Centre of excellence for Vehicle Dynamics.
HST is used for measuring the maximum speed capability of high-end cars like BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Tesla and so forth which cannot be measured on any of the Indian test tracks. Being centrally located in Madhya Pradesh, it is accessible to most of the major OEMs. Foreign OEMs will be looking at NATRAX HST for the development of prototype cars for Indian conditions. At present, foreign OEMs go to their respective high speed track abroad for high speed test requirements.
It is one-stop solution for all sorts of high speed performance tests, being one of the largest in the world. It can cater to widest category of vehicles; say from two-wheelers to the heaviest tractor-trailers. Vehicles can 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.
