One giant leap, for all 

One giant leap, for all 

Context

Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) project

What is High Speed Rail (HSR)?

It has speeds above 250 Kmph

Impact of HSR

• It will propel India to the elite league of nations that run high-speed trains and is, therefore, also a project that would symbolise and instil national pride
• At over 300 kmph, it would also mark a paradigm shift for the Indian Railways (IR), which still has average speeds in the range of 50 and 23 kmph for passenger and goods trains respectively
• It would indeed dramatically change the way people in India look at travel as hitherto overnight distances between major cities would get compressed to 2-3 hours, often lower than the total time while travelling by air

Global level

• Presently, only 15 countries have HSR
• Shift away from air travel & automobiles: In all these countries, it has brought about profound development over corridors in terms of economic opportunities, employment and environment-friendly transport. In all cases, a massive shift away from air travel and automobiles has also been noticed

Addressing the concerns

• MAHSR has been shrouded with unfounded misgivings resulting in sharp criticism over its viability or whether it will be available for only the elite. Author tries to dispel them
• Author states that, MAHSR is a futuristic project. Can we remain satisfied with average speeds of 50 kmph for passenger trains forever? Should IR not look at a leap of technology?
• A necessity for the future: The way our country’s economy is growing, 10-15 years later our GDP levels would be much higher and that would necessitate extending the HSR network over the high-density golden quadrilateral (almost 10,000 km). It would also drive economies of scale and make HSRs uniquely Indian and frugal in construction cost and affordability
• Aimed at the masses: The project aims at moving the masses. The traffic projection for the project has been arrived at by using normal econometric models and it is often true that once trains start running and people get used to the easy availability of fast travel, the ridership will exceed the projections
• The existing railway network would also benefit immensely from the learnings that would emerge from the technology of HSR
• Japanese Shinkansen is the safest: The safety record of the existing railway system is affected by a number of factors such as surface crossings, habitations close to tracks and the low margin for maintenance. All these factors are fully addressed in the HSR. In fact one of the reasons for choosing Shinkansen is that since its inception in 1964 there has been no fatal accidents
• Economic benefits: Covering 500 km in 2-3 hours will obviously give an enormous boost to economic activities along the corridor. Closer economic linkages will convert the entire corridor into an economic cluster
• Employment:Other benefits that would come with the project are generation of employment of about 40,000 persons during the construction phase, skill upgradation of local residents who will engage with the project and that of railway personnel who would be trained at the state-or-the-art High-speed Training Centre at Vadodara and the transformation of station terminals
• Generation of demand:The project would require about two million tonnes of cement and five lakh tonnes of steel per year during the construction phase. This would itself generate demand for transport and warehousing
• Improved quality of air:The modal shift from air and automobiles to HSR will improve also air quality
• Decongestion: Shift away from automobiles & air travel will decongest our highways and airports
• Transparency: Projects under the MAHSR would be given out after competitive bidding process only. Nomination has been eliminated as a way to hand out contract packages under the HSR project