Revisiting the rail gauge debate

Source: This post has been created based on the article “Revisiting the rail gauge debate” published in The Hindu on 9^th October 2023.

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 3 Indian Economy — Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways, etc.

News: This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the Broad-Gauge railway network vis-à-vis the Standard Gauge railway network.

What is the current status of railway gauge in India?

The predominant railway network in India is Broad Gauge (BG) with a width of 1.676 metres.

However, the rapid rail transport system (RRTS) in Delhi, the high-speed rail line between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, and various metro rail systems are being made on Standard Gauge (SG) of 1.435 m width.

India followed a uni-gauge policy since the 1990s and almost all the routes were converted to BG.

However, by the end of the 20th century, a Cabinet resolution left the decision on the choice of gauge to individual State governments.

The Standard Gauge was also endorsed by E. Sreedharan, then Managing Director (MD) of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, and thereafter began to be used more often in the country.

What are the arguments in Favour of Standard Gauge (SG) and their criticism?

1) The most prominent factor in favor of SG is its universality, i.e., most metro rail networks are based on SG.

However, metro rail systems in a number of cities and countries run on other gauges too.

2) It is also argued that the SG requires less space.

However, since most metro rail systems today are built on elevated structures, the land required for pillars on roads for both SG and BG is the same.

3) Another argument in favour of SG is the availability of the latest technology for coach design as it is the prevalent system in developed countries.

However, this argument doesn’t hold now as India has its own indigenous semi-high-speed train designs (such as the Vande Bharat series).

4) Another argument is the cost of the project since SG is assumed to be a cheaper system.

However, as per an assessment, the BG system will be cheaper by around 10% per unit capacity compared to SG.

What are the arguments Against Broad Gauge (BG) and their criticism?

One objection to BG is the higher turning radius with a consequent reduction in speed and throughput (i.e. the number of trains that can pass through in unit time).

However, the additional time taken on BG would be negligible (between 1.5%-3%) since speed restrictions are confined to curves, which are a small part of the total route.

Similarly, throughput would be similar for both. This is because throughput depends on the minimum time gap permitted between two successive trains. This is based on braking distance and acceleration which depend on the train design and not the gauge.

What is the main argument in Favour of the BG?

The most important argument concerns the integration of new rail networks with the existing ones which carry 8 billion passengers annually.

Integrating the two networks will help passengers and cargo move seamlessly. Such a flexible system would also be helpful in situations of emergency.

What should be done?

Taking into account the above factors, the government should re-examine the issue with a view to building all future rail systems in BG. This will prevent the creation of incompatible islands of the new rail networks amidst the existing ones.