Road Trains: Will They Work in India?

Don't be surprised if you see a truck pulling multiple trailers chugging along the busy super highways such as those of Mumbai-Bengaluru, Nagpur-Gurugram, or Delhi-Mumbai. For decades, the image of the "road train" – a heavy-duty prime mover, or tractor unit, hauling a sinuous chain of trailers – conjured up visions of the vast, sparsely populated terrains of Australia or the American West.

But this icon of long-haul efficiency may soon make an unlikely debut on the bustling, and often congested, highways of India. These articulated leviathans, popularly referred to as 'road trains', are not just a spectacle of ...