India has one of the largest rail networks in the world. As of 2011, India does not have any high-speed rail lines capable of supporting speeds of 200 km/h (124 mph) or more, and none is under construction or subject to definite plans, only of longer-term proposals.
Fast express trains such as the Shatabdi and Duronto are often referred to as "high-speed" trains by government officials and Indian media, and trains with speed of 250 to 350 km/h (155 to 217 mph) are often referred to as "bullet-trains". However, periodically interest is expressed by the Government and media in introducing high-speed rail in India.
Contents |
Indian Railways' current effort to provide fast non-stop train services under the brand of Duronto continues in the decade of 2010-19. In addition, they aim at raising the speed of passenger trains to 200-250 km/h on dedicated conventional tracks. Train journey between Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Calcutta will become an overnight service compared with the present 15-16 hours.[1] Mr KH Muniyappa minister of state for railways informed the Lok Sabha that Dedicated Freight Corridors on Eastern (Dankuni-Ludhiana) and Western (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal to Tughlakabad/Dadri) routes have been sanctioned. The status in respect of both the Corridors is as under:
Eastern Corridor Construction work is in progress in 66 kilometres of Sonnagar-Mughalsarai portion of the corridor. The work on the Mughalsarai-Ludhiana portion (1183 kms) of the corridor is being funded through World Bank loan. The loan agreement for the Phase-I (Khurja-Kanpur, 343 kms. Section) has been signed with the World Bank and process for finalization of tender for civil works of this section has commenced.
Western Corridor Work on 54 major and important bridges between Vaitarna and Surat is in progress.
Loan Agreement with Japan International cooperation Agency which is funding the entire Western Freight Corridor work, has been signed for Phase-I of the work between Rewari and Vadodara.
Tendering process for execution of civil work on the 625 kms Rewari-Iqbalgarh portion has also commenced.
Expenditure till March 31st 2011 on Eastern and Western DFC Project is INR 2026.41 crore. Budget allotment for 2011-12 is INR 2956 crore and expenditure till September 2011 is INR 315.8 crore.
Indian Railways' approach to high-speed is incremental improvement on existing conventional lines for up to 200 km/h, with a forward vision of speed above 250 km/h on new tracks with state-of-the-art technology, such as Shinkansen/TGV/etc.[1] While they do not define high-speed, Indian Railways' approach matches the high-speed definitions of the Trans-European high-speed rail network, for upgraded lines and new lines built for high-speed.
Dedicate tracks on existing trunk lines to passenger trains, by building separate corridors for freight trains, and build separate tracks for busy suburban traffic in Mumbai and other cities where traffic is equally busy. Without slower freight and suburban traffic, fast-express trains can run at the speed limit of rolling stock, the track or railroad switch, whichever is lowest among those that apply.[1]
Upgrade the dedicated passenger tracks with heavier rails, and build the tracks to a close tolerance geometry fit for 160-200 km/h. High-speed tracks to be maintained and inspected using automation to ensure required track geometry. Perform more frequent inspection to ensure high confidence of safety at high-speed.[1][3]
Design, manufacture and deploy railroad switches, with thick web construction and movable crossings that permit 50 km/h to alleviate this bottleneck to speed.[1]
Improve coaches, which can support 200 km/h, with stainless steel bodies and crash-worthy designs, incorporating passenger and crew protection, and fire-retardant materials. Equip coaches with electro-pneumatic brake systems to enhance safe operations at 160-200 km/h.[1]
Develop locomotives with output of 9000 to 12000 hp for hauling of 24-26 coach long passenger trains to 160-200 km/h.[1]
The National High Speed Rail Authority Bill or NHSRA Bill will be presented in Parliament in 2011 winter session to constitute an autonomous body,the nine-member Authority will have a chairman and eight members, there will be four full-time members including Member Project, Member Finance, Member Engineering and Member Planning.[4] The Board will look after the first Six planned routes for Bullet Train.[5]
The Indian Ministry of Railways' white-paper Vision 2020[1] submitted to Indian Parliament by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on December 18 2009[6] envisages the implementation of regional high-speed rail projects to provide services at 250-350 km/h, and planning for corridors connecting commercial, tourist and pilgrimage hubs. Six corridors have already been identified for technical studies on setting up of high-speed rail corridors: Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar, Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijayawada-Chennai, Howrah-Haldia, Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam-Trivandrum, Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna. These high-speed rail corridors will be built as elevated corridors in keeping with the pattern of habitation and the constraint of land.
During Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Tokyo in December 2006, Japan assured cooperation with India in creating a high speed link between New Delhi and Mumbai.[7] In January 2009, the then Railway Minister Lalu Prasad expressed keen interest in introducing bullet-trains in India. "The day is not far off when the bullet train will run in the country" Prasad had said after getting a first-hand feel of the superfast trains travelling from Tokyo to Kyoto at a speed of about 300 km/h[8]. On a visit to India in December 2009, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama offered bullet-train technology to India. "Since its inception (in Japan), there has been no accidents. We will like to see this technology being used in India”, said Hatoyama. The proposal is under discussion, according to official sources.[9]
Not everyone in India is equally keen on introducing high-speed rail as the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or the former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad with some leaders expressing apprehension that regional biases might creep in in the absence of a comprehensive national policy vis-a-vis high speed railways.
In a feasibility study published in 1987, RDSO and JICA estimated the construction cost to be Rs 49 million per km, for a line dedicated to 250-300 km/h trains. In 2010, that 1987-estimated cost, inflated at 10% a year, would be Rs 439 million per km (US$ 9.5 million/km).[10] RITES is currently performing a feasibility study.[11] It is being estimated that dedicated high speed corridor will cost about 100 crore per km.
According to news media, the costs for constructing such rail lines in India are estimated to be Rs 700-1000 million per km (US$ 15-22 million/km). Therefore the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route of 500 km, will cost Rs 370 billion (US$ 8.04 billion) to build and to make a profit, passengers will have to be charged Rs 5 per km (US$ 0.11/km). Delhi to Amritsar one-way, a distance of 450 km, will cost about Rs 2000 (US$ 43.48).[12] At US$ 15-22 million per km, cost estimates are in line with US$ 18 million per km of the recently completed Wu-Guang HSR line in China.
In India, trains in the future with speed of 250-350 km/h, are envisaged to run on elevated corridors, to prevent trespassing by animals and people. This is an excellent way to isolate high-speed train tracks. The TGV tracks are completely fenced in and has no road crossing them at the same level. Wu-Guang’s 2-tracks line is laid, 468 km on bridges, 177 km in tunnels, and 323 km on embankments. The 336 km THSR tracks are 91% on bridges, flyover, or tunnels.
The current conventional lines between Amritsar-New Delhi, and Ahmedabad-Mumbai runs through suburban and rural areas, which are flat, therefore have no tunnel. Ahmedabad-Mumbai line runs near the coast therefore have more bridges, and parts of it are in backwaters or forest. The 1987 RDSO/JICA feasibility study found the Mumbai-Ahmedabad line as most promising.[10]
Two new routes were later proposed by Indian Railways, namely Ahmedabad - Dwarka, via Rajkot, Jamnagar and other from Rajkot to Veraval via Junagadh[13]
| High-Speed Corridor | Route | Stops | Average Speed Expected | Further Extension |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East India | ||||
| Howarah - Haldia High-Speed Passenger Corridor | Howrah-Haldia | TBD | 350 km/h | TBD |
| North India | ||||
| Delhi - Agra - Kanpur - Lucknow - Varansai - Patna High-Speed Passenger Corridor | Delhi-Agra-Kanpur-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna | TBD | 200 - 350 km/h | Howrah |
| Delhi - Chandigarh - Amritsar High-Speed Passenger Corridor | Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar | TBD | 250 km/h | TBD |
| South India | ||||
| Chennai - Bangalore - Coimbatore - Ernakulam - Thiruvananthapuram High-Speed Passenger Corridor | Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam-Thiruvananthapuram | TBD | 300 km/h | Mumbai (via Hubli), Mysore |
| Hyderabad (India) - Dornakal - Vijayawada - Chennai High-Speed Passenger Corridor | Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijayawada-Chennai | TBD | 300 km/h | Visakhapatnam |
| Thiruvananthapuram - Mangalore High-Speed Passenger Corridor | Thiruvananthapuram - Mangalore (Proposed by Kerala High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd) | Expected: Kollam Kottayam Ernakulam Thrissur Kozhikode Kannur Kasargod |
200 - 250 km/h | TBD |
| West India | ||||
| Ahmedabad - Rajkot - Jamnagar - Dwarka High-Speed Passenger Corridor | Ahmedabad - Rajkot - Jamnagar - Dwarka | TBD | 350 km/h | TBD |
| Pune - Mumbai - Ahmedabad High-Speed Passenger Corridor | Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad | Expected: Lonavala Surat Bharuch Vadodara |
300 - 350 km/h | TBD |
| Rajkot - Junagadh - Veraval High-Speed Passenger Corridor | Rajkot - Junagadh - Veraval | TBD | 350 km/h | TBD |
As of July 2010, there are currently 49 train services on the 968 km Wuhan-Guangzhou HSR line in China, with fares from US$ 70-115 (Rs 3220-5290), or US$ 0.07-0.12 per km (Rs 3.33-5.46/km). Amritsar-New Delhi line has 22 daily services, with fares range from Rs 552-1434 (US$ 12-31). Ahmedabad-Mumbai has 32 daily services with fares from Rs 514-1475 (US$ 11-32). On the 2 Indian lines travelling cost Rs 1.14-3.19 per km (US$ 0.025-0.069/km).
The National High Speed Rail Authority is being set up.[14][15] To put the construction in perspective, in the period 2005-09 Indian Railways took on construction of 42 completely new conventional lines, a total of 4060 km at a cost of Rs 167 billion (US$ 3.63 billion),[16] or Rs 41 million per km (US$ 0.89 million/km).[1] A public-private-partnership mode of investment and execution is envisaged for such expensive 250-350 km/h high-speed rail project.[1]
The feasibility study of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Pune corridor is complete.[17] On 21 March 2011, the British firm Mott MacDonald was asked to conduct a pre-feasibility study on the 993km long Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna route and report back in 7 months.[18] It will cost the Railways Rs 8.8 crore for the report.[19] A Japanese consortium was selected to explore the feasibility of running a bullet train on the proposed Hyderabad-Vijayawada-Chennai high speed corridor. The consultants for the pre-feasibility study of Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna and Howrah-Haldia corridors have been appointed. Tenders for the study of Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam-Thiruvananthapuram corridor are under finalization. The state governments are ready to meet 50% cost of the consultancy. While Japan has shown interest in India's high speed train, it is funding 80% of the cost of construction of the 1,499 km-long Western Dedicated Freight Corridor.[20]
|
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||