For nearly thirty years, India has been toying
with the idea of implementing High Speed Rail along major corridors to maintain
global relevance and to increase connectivity to boost business and tourism.
It looks like India is, finally, on track to get its very first high-speed rail
line, albeit at least ten years from now. The HSR made headlines
last week when the French National Railways, SNFC, announced that the technical
feasibility studies for the Mumbai – Ahmedabad line (and 5 other lines), it is
helping the Indian Government conduct, is nearing completion. The construction
for this line is expected to begin after ironing out financial details like
pricing, etc. and is expected to take 10 years to complete. Each line is
expected to cost $600 Billion to construct.
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| High Speed Rail for India? |
Railways, specifically HSR, have been a contentious topic in
India and mired in constant controversy. In the eighties, the very first
proposal to introduce a high-speed rail link between Delhi and Kanpur was shot
down due to the high cost of construction and the inability of passengers to
pay higher fares. Instead it introduced the Shatabdi Express,
which to this day is the fastest train in India, plying at 90 mph.
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| Shatabdi Express - The fastest train in India |
Since then, several proposals have been shelved for various
reasons, until the 2009 white paper by the Ministry of Indian Railways, Vision
2020. This paper outlined the latest proposal for HSR connecting India’s
major commercial, religious and tourist hubs. The trains would be built on
elevated corridors due to land constraints and to prevent trespassing by people
and animals, as is common with the current system. This proposal seeks to
increase the train speeds in India from 70-90 mph to about 150 mph. The 2012
Railway Budget
referred to this plan when adding HSR feasibility studies in the line items. The
budget also directed the creation of the High
Speed Rail Corporation of India (HSRC). Technical feasibility studies
commenced in 2012 for six corridors under the direction of HSRC and the
Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor will be the first to be completed.
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| Proposed HSR Corridors in India |
It is high time for India to get serious about HSR
implementation. The current railway network, although extensive, is heavily
burdened and consistently underperforming. Poor maintenance and unhygienic
conditions are a constant source of dissatisfaction among travelers. Moreover,
the quality of service is highly elastic to changes in the political structure
at the Central (Federal) Government. HSR may solve many of the current issues,
especially under a private-public partnership.
With India’s growing role in the world economy,
infrastructure development in the country has become a crucial issue,
especially as comparisons
to China’s massive infrastructure investments shed a poor light on India’s
current state of affairs. Currently, India lacks a surface transportation
system that can effectively move people from one end of the country to the
other. Implementing HSR will foster and accelerate economic growth with
efficient connections for business and tourism. However, bureaucratic
challenges and the recent chain of political scams rocking the country pose a
major threat to HSR in India. Yet, the Indian government seems motivated enough
to see this through. Will India eventually get HSR? Only time will tell.
Thank you, Arthur, for editing this post!
Sources:
Sravya-
ReplyDeleteVery interesting piece.
I feel like you have brought to our attention a nation that is at the cross-roads of a huge cultural decision via its transportation investments: 600 billion to rail or untold billions to infrastructure for probable road improvements due to the projected 7-8% annual vehicle growth (Two Billion Cars) by its population.
Will the world's largest democracy, economically emerging and with a increasing middle class eager to have its luxuries, try to socially engineer public transit? Or open the flood gates and let them buy cars?
From your piece I get the feeling that they know they are at a pivotal point - it will be interesting to see which direction they go.
For some ideas on HSR in the US, Prof. David Levinson's blog is a good source, e.g.
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.lib.umn.edu/levin031/transportationist/2013/02/hsr-to-the-future.html