Why India needs Bullet Trains?

Hello friends!!!! With all the discussions going on Bullet Trains in India and whether this move by Modi will prove beneficial in the long run for the country or not, I thought of sharing my viewpoint on this through this blog. This article will cover the reasons why India should go for bullet trains. I will try to answer the common questions posed by many regarding High Speed Railway (HSR) or Bullet Trains.

                USA and Japan first started their High Speed Bullet train networks in 1960’s, nearly 50 years before India can think of it. Still we feel that India is not ready for bullet trains. This argument alone cannot justify all the questions posed by many who think that bullet train is an extravaganza which India and its citizens cannot afford. So let us have a look on some useful data in this regard. When HSR was introduced in USA and Japan GDP per capita income of these countries was 3,574 USD and 919.78 USD respectively. The current GDP of India is more than 5000 USD and by the time HSR projects start (2016-2017) it may rise significantly. So on this front India qualifies for HSR.

                The second concern raised by some is that we should try to improve our Air Transport and look out for the crippling aviation sector rather than going for HSR. But HSR can actually act as a substitute for aviation sector. Japan started its first HSR service from Tokyo to Osaka. Gradually this network was increased to rest of the country. As per 2008 data, only this Tokyo to Osaka(distance between Tokyo and Osaka – 500km) line commutes nearly 151 million passengers. Imagine this many people travelling with air transport. Japanese HSR has actually replaced air transport. Now people can actually travel between cities or states for day to day work with these Bullet trains. So instead of saying that we need to improve our aviation we can actually find an alternative to the air transport. Although HSR cannot completely replace air transport but yes it can shed some load from it.

                Now comes the question whether HSR can compete with air travel in terms of cost and travel time. According to a report by Business Standard Newspaper, a single journey ticket of HSR from Mumbai to Ahmedabad may cost around 2300 Rs. Flight tickets vary from 1600 to 3200 Rs on this route depending upon the availability of tickets. So HSR may prove price competitive. One additional advantage of HSR is that the number of people HSR can commute in one go is much higher than air travel. Also the time taken by HSR to travel this Mumbai-Ahmedabad route may be around 2-3 hours which is comparable to air journey on this route if you consider the check in and check out.

                Next concern raised is that whether we actually need HSR. Is the demand going to increase to such an extent that HSR can actually be useful? Well for this also I will take the example of Mumbai Ahmedabad corridor only. The rush on this corridor may increase 3-4 folds in the coming years. GIFT city in Gujarat is on the verge of completion and this may increase the foreign travellers landing in Mumbai and travelling to Ahmedabad. So HSR may prove quite useful in this case. And if the future expansion plan is successful and this network is stretched to Delhi, it would connect India’s financial capital to its National capital. This would make it much more resourceful.

                Apart from this there are some added benefits to HSR. It not only connects end to end destinations as in air travel but also the cities between these two destinations. So a HSR network between Mumbai to Ahmedabad will also include Surat and Vadodara for commutation. This cannot be achieved by air travel. HSR runs on electricity and there is no kind of emission during its operation. It is a clean mode of transport when compared to air travel. So India can earn carbon credit for switching to low carbon emission transport. Japan’s HSR project is one of the safest mode of Public transport in the world. Till date it has seen only two derailments but no causalities were reported in these accidents. So from safety point of view also HSR stands out.

                The last point which I want to make is that it is not the first time in India when we are trying to move forward with some advanced technology and have garnered opposition for that. Indian Space Programme and Metro Railways were also criticised when their idea was first pitched in. But now these are not only one of the most successful projects executed by India but also on par with their international counterparts. Over and above this one of the concerns which I believe is completely baseless is whether HSR would be profitable. Japan won this project only because it was able to submit a feasibility report on the profitable operation of HSR. Even if this weren’t true and HSR runs in a loss, I can hardly find any profitable public transport in India be it Indian Railways, Delhi Metro or Aviation Sector. I am not saying that this gives an excuse to run HSR in loss but still the point which I am trying to make is that the prime focus of these projects is to provide comfortable means of transportation to public not to make profit only.

                So I would like to conclude that HSR can be the big step into making it a developed nation. This project is going to face many hurdles from land acquisition to funding and many more. But successful implementation of this project will be a boost to India’s Pride and will change India’s outlook in International Community.

I tried to portray all the positive points of HSR to the best of my efforts. I know many readers of may not agree to my views and I will be really happy to get your say on this. You can leave your comments on this blog so that the readers may get to know the other side of the story also.