High speed / Semi-High speed rail projects of Indian Railways

[RISING SUN]

But the problem is Maharashtra government is equally funding the project as Gujrat which is very unfair. Gujrat gets all important cities connected while Maharashtra gets only Mumbai. Pune - Mumbai has higher demand than Pune - Ahmedabad.
And this happened only because there was BJP government in Maharashtra. This is was also a critique by the opposition parties here and i fully agree.
Why should Maharashtra fund equally as Gujarat government when benefits aren't equal.
I dont have problem with the project but the funding

When a country wide project is launched all states contribute funds on equal footing, and the benefits, most people observe is the footfalls only which is primary data (most people want primary benefits only), however as we have observed in European, Japanese or even Chinese, it is the secondary benefits which exceed the primarily footfall benefits.

Further as I logically say, if for example, Chattisgarh starts claiming they will not pay for Mumbai Kolkata section passing through their marginal land on equal costing, MP starts saying they will not fund bacasue it passes partially through Ratlam section, then how will country wide project get implemented and how will Maharashra itself ensure that most of its area get covered if others start pulling back from equal funding. If we are unable to make even 5% cost funding of a small section of a country wide project, due to any reason be it political, financial, land etc, how will we go to other states and ask funding for the projects which will have marginal benefits for them. Hope you acknolege that as well. We all should leave the political considerations aside and reap the benifits of wider projects. Thank you.

 

[Ashwin]

Chennai - Bangalore - Hyderabad is a better route. All buses and trains between Bangalore and Hyderabad are always full. The route will break even within no time.

That's 900+KM. Can only think of after Chennai-Banglore. They should be thinking of linking regions before interlinking long distance cities.

Ahmedabad to Mumbai is economical only if extended to Pune or else its useless for Maharashtra

Extension to Pune is a no brainer.

I have had the exchanges with few people in past in regards to Delhi-Varanasi route, Chennai-Banglore, Chennai Hyderabad routes and above comment came almost all the time. To the best of my understanding, Chennai-Bangalore-Mysore route will not be passing through plains only which is cheapest to build, and faster too. Delhi-Amritsar is very well located in plains, thus building the infrastructure might be cheaper there like Delhi Varanasi route. Varanasi & Mugal Sarai station (New name Deen Dayal Upadhyay Station) is being considered not because of political considerations but simply because it is directly on the Grand trunk route which is one of the busiest routes in India, if not busiest already. From BSB and MGS trains pass every 3 minute both passengers and freight, that's the intensity of network. It is not only major junction on Grand trunk route Delhi to Kolkata but also a major industrial & population of Purvanchal. Thus passenger occupancy is higher, building cost will be low. So saying it is less economical than other routes is not justifiable in my opinion.

But, that doesn't mean Chennai Banglore route will be less economical than Delhi Varanasi route, it will be incorrect as well. Feasibility study is done already for all concerned routes which includes, technical, passenger occupancy, building cost etc. Every route is important for all around country growth, and it is not practically possible to build all routes together at same time, so some route might come online before others however all approved routes will be built, that is for sure. Thank you.

All three routes have similar geography which is not a distinction. Grand trunk routes occupancy problems go away with fright corridors. Also, signal upgrade and semi highspeed upgrades are already underway. That route need cheap and efficient solutions, not HSR (for now). The new found love for Varanasi is nothing but political.

HSR is viable when it is better than air travel in time and money spend. The sweet spot distance of HSR is up to ~500km where it will have a significant advantage over air travel. Another variable here is how wealthy the region its serving is and how much business travel occurs in the route.

All these come together in the case of the Mumbai-Ahamadabad line. That is why JICA is funding it 80%!. Chennai - Bangalore route has all the ingredients to be the next feasible choice. The Govt definitely needs a generous soft loan to build anything like HSR. Thus incentives are aligned to viability more than political compulsions.

 

[RISING SUN]

That's 900+KM. Can only think of after Chennai-Banglore. They should be thinking of linking regions before


Extension to Pune is a no brainer.


All three routes have similar geography which is not a distinction. Grand trunk routes occupancy problems go away with fright corridors. Also, signal upgrade and semi highspeed upgrades are already underway. That route need cheap and efficient solutions, not HSR (for now). The new found love for Varanasi is nothing but political.

HSR is viable when it is better than air travel in time and money spend. The sweet spot distance of HSR is up to ~500km where it will have a significant advantage over air travel. Another variable here is how wealthy the region its serving is and how much business travel occurs in the route.

All these come together in the case of the Mumbai-Ahamadabad line. That is why JICA is funding it 80%!. Chennai - Bangalore route has all the ingredients to be the next feasible choice. The state definitely needs a generous soft loan to build anything like HSR. Thus incentives are aligned to viability more than political compulsions.

In regards to your first comment, yes I agree about regional connectivity in bits and pieces and gradually building the nation wide network.

Second point, Pune connectivity is very much necessary with demand. However I disagree that political compulsions should not affect the funding of any project, rest we turn into lala land whenever governments change anywhere in India.

Third point, what you mention about grand trunk route upgrades, that is planned and being worked all across India gradually. HSR isn't going to be ready even by 2025 there, so yes work need to start ASAP to give development push, same for all regions of India. On new found love of Varanasi, was it there when Varanasi was included in the HSR project in 2009? If not, then it is a political motivated allegation just because PM chose the place as a constituency for his election. Varanasi was an important city of India well before current PM chose it as his constituency and it will remain important even when current PM is not around there, hope I made my point clear.

HSR will force airlines to bring stability in pricing, you missed that. It will make traveling not only faster but economical too! Thank you.

 

[Bali78]

That's 900+KM. Can only think of after Chennai-Banglore. They should be thinking of linking regions before interlinking long distance cities.

I would rather see it as 350 (Chennai - Bangalore) + 550(Bangalore - Hyderabad) km. Chennai to Hyderabad passengers should be considered as bonus. My point was Bangalore to Hyderabad should get preference over Bangalore - Mysore route.

The sweet spot is not decided only by distance, rather it's end to end travel duration and cost. For example though Hyderabad to Bangalore travel time is 1 hr and airfare might be 2.5 - 4k, the actual travel time is 5-6 hrs and total cost is airfare + 2k taxi fare due to location of airports in both cities.

Shanghai to Beijing is 1300 kms, yet it'sone of the most popular and profitable routes in China.

 

[Ashwin]

I would rather see it as 350 (Chennai - Bangalore) + 550(Bangalore - Hyderabad) km. Chennai to Hyderabad passengers should be considered as bonus. My point was Bangalore to Hyderabad should get preference over Bangalore - Mysore route.

I don't think there is a separate bangalore-Mysore line planned. It would be an extension like Mumbai-Pune I suppose. After Bangalore-Chennai, Hyderabad should be the next priority.

The sweet spot is not decided only by distance, rather it's end to end travel duration and cost. For example though Hyderabad to Bangalore travel time is 1 hr and airfare might be 2.5 - 4k, the actual travel time is 5-6 hrs and total cost is airfare + 2k taxi fare due to location of airports in both cities.

Duration and cost both tied to distance . Average speed can be taken as a constant of 230-250km/h.

Shanghai to Beijing is 1300 kms, yet it'sone of the most popular and profitable routes in China.

There are always exceptions. It is also the only profitable route in china for the last 5 years. Chinese railways have an inherent advantage because of the inefficient airlines there. Most of the airspace is under control of the military and it's always conjected thus less predictable.

The Beijing-Shanghai line is the crown jewel in China’s 22,000-mile high-speed railway network. It runs across some of the country’s most affluent and populous regions.

 

[randomradio]

Any link to Bangalore will start from Mysore and end at Mysore. Bangalore will be one of the cities in between.

 

[vstol Jockey]

Any link to Bangalore will start from Mysore and end at Mysore. Bangalore will be one of the cities in between.

It might go all the way to Mangalore. There is very high demand on Mangalore-Bangalore sector.

 

[randomradio]

It might go all the way to Mangalore. There is very high demand on Mangalore-Bangalore sector.

That route is entirely ghat. Dunno if the govt will bother to bore through hills or elevate the line.

 

[vstol Jockey]

That route is entirely ghat. Dunno if the govt will bother to bore through hills or elevate the line.

I know but it is the need of the hour. Take the case of Kannur to Bangalore line. It has to go thru coiambatore, a far longer route. just a line from Kannur to Mysore will create one of the shortest routes to Bangalore from any point in Kerala. Similarly, Madikeri to Mangalore is what is missing. If we can make rail route to Kashmir, I am sure these sections will be a cake walk.

 

[STEPHEN COHEN]

Soon an agitation will be started AGAINST
Bullet train

Modi wasting money on Bullet train while
Millions are unemployed

 

[screambowl]

Soon an agitation will be started AGAINST
Bullet train

Modi wasting money on Bullet train while
Millions are unemployed

That agitation will be more because of land procurement 'muavza' issue. Due to mismanagement of government. In Himachal and other himalayan states, people give their land without any muavza for nation building, run of the river dams in NE and Tehri are the best example. But sometimes same can't be expected from rest of the India because peninsular region has fertile land.

If every time government comes up with new line unnecessarily rather upgrading the existing lines then of course land will always be an issue. And this kind of policy is worrisome. You take fertile land to build projects when same project can be built by just upgrading infrastructure.

Why because they also have to keep contractors and companies happy. Thee is more money in new projects rather upgrading the infrastructure. Dalal of land mafia will make money, some money will be given to naxals and rest to contracters and cut will be kept by state government MLA, officials and ministers.

 

[Gautam]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1261194422139539458

 

[Ankit Kumar]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1261194422139539458

Economics will favor HSR wherever the flight duration is upto around 2 hours. On longer routes the passenger will prefer flight. And construction on longer routes will take much longer periods to cover the investment costs. It would be difficult to implement HSR on such long routes.

Southern India actually has better potential, with centers like Chennai, Bengaluru, Vizag and Hyderabad not that much distant.

In north Delhi Agra route might get easy approval.

 

[Ashwin]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1261194422139539458

If we are going by feasibility studies then we would have started five or so HSR construction by now.

Welcome to HSRC

 

[_Anonymous_]

If we are going by feasibility studies then we would have started five or so HSR construction by now.

Where's the money, eshwin?

 

[_Anonymous_]

 

[_Anonymous_]

I wonder if the rolling stock will be derived from Train 18 . @Ankit Kumar ; @Gautam

 

[vvabhiram]

The deadline for completion of Bullet train project between BOM-AMD is 2023 but I don't think it will be completed. Like most of the projects, this project will also not meet the deadline.

High speed rail is necessary for Indians. Right now, Govt would have concentrated more on building more Train 18 trainsets. Apart from 2 prototype models, that project entirely came to a halt.

I don't understand why Govt is not pursuing after them. 100 Train 18 sets plying across India would have been a good PR for Govt before 2024 elections.

 

[Gautam]

I wonder if the rolling stock will be derived from Train 18 . @Ankit Kumar ; @Gautam

Bombardier Wins Delhi-Meerut RRTS' 210 Coach Contract

May 7 Update: Contract has been awarded to Bombardier. Original Post: Bombardier Transportation on Friday afternoon emerged as the lowest bidder for supplying & maintaining 210 standard gauge coaches for the under construction 82.15 km Delhi – Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) li

themetrorailguy.com

 

[_Anonymous_]

Bombardier Wins Delhi-Meerut RRTS' 210 Coach Contract

May 7 Update: Contract has been awarded to Bombardier. Original Post: Bombardier Transportation on Friday afternoon emerged as the lowest bidder for supplying & maintaining 210 standard gauge coaches for the under construction 82.15 km Delhi – Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) li

themetrorailguy.com

What's the difference between the 2 , if you can explain in brief?