NEW DELHI, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The state-owned Indian Railways will unveil the country's first engine-less train later this month, officials said Wednesday.

"Train 18 will be unveiled on Oct. 29, then it will do three to four days of trial," state-owned Integral Coach Factory's general manager Sudhanshu Mani told the media.

The 16-coach state-of-the-art train that will run on a self-propulsion module will be able to attain a speed of up to 160 kmph.

The Indian Railways is one of the world's largest train networks, criss-crossing the country from north to south. It operates some 9,000 trains and carries 23 million passengers every day.

This vast public enterprise runs schools, hospitals, has its police force and construction companies, and has 1.3 million people on its payroll.

But train disasters are quite common in India as much of the colonial-era rail infrastructure is out of date.

In 2015, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government pledged 137 billion U.S. dollars over five years to modernize and expand the railways.