The railway ministry's fascination for Japanese bullet trains has not found "realistic" takers. In fact, several former and serving officials in the Railway Board have junked it as "a pipe dream" which is not "economically viable".
A former board member for traffic said: "Is the ministry ready to increase the fare to a minimum of Rs.10,000 per person on the Delhi-Patna and Delhi-Mumbai routes? If not, how will it recover the construction cost of a single track, which would be at least Rs.20,000 crore?"
Japan was in all earnestness promoting the Shinkansen (bullet train) system for the six high-speed corridors proposed in India. After meetings last month in Mumbai, it also organised a day-long presentation at the Rail Bhavan earlier this month. It was attended by railway minister Dinesh Trivedi and senior rail officials.
The Japanese delegation highlighted the zero fatal accident-record of its bullet trains since their introduction in 1964. In this respect, the Japanese are one up on the Chinese, which brought the curtains down on its high-speed projects after a tragic accident on the Shanghai line.
The railway ministry is currently undertaking feasibility studies on the Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar, Varanasi-Patna, Haldia-Howrah, Delhi-Agra-Lucknow, Hyderabad-Vijaywada-Chennai and Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam corridors.
Though Trivedi is said to be in favour of the trains, many officials doubt if it is a "profitable proposition" for the Indian Railways, which is not even in a position to invest a few thousand crores to install anti-fog and anti-collision devices on its trains. "The world over, the high-speed corridors are constructed on routes less than 500-km long and on circuits with no air connectivity. Who would pay higher than the air fare to travel longer to Patna, Kolkata or Mumbai?" an official asked.
Some experts also countered Trivedi's bullet train idea on three points: (a) Who will pay for the investment? (b) If it is a soft loan, will the cash-strapped ministry ensure the repayment? (c) Can the ministry ensure the required investment under the PPP mode?
Technical experts say the condition of the existing tracks is not conducive to running bullet or other fast trains, which run at 160 kmph.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/japanese-bullet-trains-railway-board-india/1/161803.html
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