Why in news ?
Recently, the Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises inaugurated NATRAX- the High Speed Track in Pithampur, Indore (Madhya Pradesh).
About:
- It is one of the state-of-the-art automotive testing and certification centre under National Automotive Testing and Research and development (R&D) Infrastructure Project (NATRIP),
- NATRIP is the largest and most significant initiative in the automotive sector which comprises representatives from the Government of India, a number of State Governments and Indian Automotive Industry.
- It is a flagship project of the Ministry of Heavy Industries.
- It aims to create a state of the art testing, validation and R&D infrastructure in the country.
- It is a world class 11.3 km High Speed Track. The track is the longest in Asia and the fifth-largest in the world.
- It is developed in an area of 1000 acres of land.
- It 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 manoeuvres such as lane change, high speed durability testing, etc. and is a Centre of excellence for Vehicle Dynamics.