High-Speed Rail in India

[Bombay2Calcutta]

The Indian Ministry of Railways' white-paper Vision 2020 submitted to Indian Parliament by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on December 18 2009 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:

1. Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar.
2. Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad.
3. Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijayawada-Chennai
4. Howrah-Haldia
5. Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam
6. 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.

Estimated cost

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). RITES is currently performing a feasibility study.

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).

[Bombay2Calcutta]

Source

UK firm to study pre-feasibility of Delhi-Patna bullet trains

New Delhi, Mar 21 (PTI) Aiming at connecting Patna with high speed train, the railways will undertake a pre- feasibility study of Delhi-Patna rail route, which would be conducted by a British firm.
"UK firm Mott Macdonald has been given the responsibility of conducting the pre-feasibility study of the 993-km-long Delhi-Patna route," a senior Railway Ministry official said.
It would cost the Railways Rs 8.8 crore for preparing the report, which would focus on technicalities, financial and operational viability of the project on Delhi-Agra-Lucknow- Varanasi-Patna route, he said.
The firm has to submit the report within seven months.
"The report would suggest the cost, ridership, alignment, commercial exploitation of land along the route and possible business plan of the Delhi-Patna high speed rail corridor," the official said.
While it takes about more than 12 hours to travel to Patna by Rajdhani, the high speed train is expected to complete the journey in less than five hours.
The Railways so far has identified six routes as possible high speed corridors for running trains at the speed of 250 to 350 km per hour .
While the study for Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad route is complete, the next routes to be taken up for similar study are Howrah-Haldia and Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar sectors.
Later on study for the remaining routes -- Hyderabad- Dornakal-Vijaywada-Chennai and Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore- Ernakulum would be taken up for the proposed high speed train corridor.
In order to expedite the work, the Railways is setting up an independent authority -- National High Speed Rail Authority -- to plan and execute the bullet train project.
Currently it cost about Rs six crore for construction of one km rail route, while it is estimated to cost Rs 70 crore for construction of one km high speed rail corridor.
Since the high speed corridor is a costly proposition, it is being planned to implement it on PPP model with the participation of state governments, the official said.

[dreadathecontrols]

this is , if ever, 30 years off.
the study is just a job creation scheme..

[aksstar]

High speed rail in India would be quite beneficial given the vast area and distances between the major cities. Therefore it makes sense to invest in this technology especially since there is a demand in our country. They should start with Delhi-Mumbai route and work their way across the country. I do think though that railways will have to be privatized in order the achieve such a feat, similar to the liberalization of the aviation sector. I don't think we have the resources or the technology to build our own trains. We would probably have to import them from China/Japan/Korea.

I doubt though that there is the political will or incentive to seriously plan and implement something of this magnitude. There is too much money to be made in the current system.

[Bombay2Calcutta]

Originally Posted by aksstar

High school rail .

??

[aksstar]

Originally Posted by Bombay2Calcutta

??

LOL. Corrected. Thanks for the heads up.

[purty_trash]

Originally Posted by aksstar

High speed rail in India would be quite beneficial given the vast area and distances between the major cities. Therefore it makes sense to invest in this technology especially since there is a demand in our country. They should start with Delhi-Mumbai route and work their way across the country. I do think though that railways will have to be privatized in order the achieve such a feat, similar to the liberalization of the aviation sector. I don't think we have the resources or the technology to build our own trains. We would probably have to import them from China/Japan/Korea.

I doubt though that there is the political will or incentive to seriously plan and implement something of this magnitude. There is too much money to be made in the current system.

Nah! I don't agree. India is changing before our own eyes. 10-12 years back if someone would have said that there'd be air conditioned metro rails in every major city, I'd have said get out! And now the center has committed 60,000 cr for metros even in smaller towns (>50 lakh population). 5 years back I wouldn't have believed if you told me that there'd be air-conditioned public buses on streets. Now we have them (at least in delhi). I think it's achievable. I read somewhere that kerala govt. was already trying to push for HSR between Kerala and southern cities. I dunno what happened to that.

[saurav_68]

Originally Posted by purty_trash

5 years back I wouldn't have believed if you told me that there'd be air-conditioned public buses on streets. Now we have them (at least in delhi).

Not only Delhi Bengaluru(400+no's),kolkata(300),Kolchi,Thruantapuram etc etc have A.C buses also...Those are quite popular among the peoples ..

[aksstar]

Originally Posted by purty_trash

Nah! I don't agree. India is changing before our own eyes. 10-12 years back if someone would have said that there'd be air conditioned metro rails in every major city, I'd have said get out! And now the center has committed 60,000 cr for metros even in smaller towns (>50 lakh population). 5 years back I wouldn't have believed if you told me that there'd be air-conditioned public buses on streets. Now we have them (at least in delhi). I think it's achievable. I read somewhere that kerala govt. was already trying to push for HSR between Kerala and southern cities. I dunno what happened to that.

1. There isn't an air conditioned metro rail in every major city! Delhi is the only city, beside Kolkota, that has been able to implement metro system in phases. There is a big difference between a plan and it's implementation. Now work is in progress, which is encouraging, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

2. Let's not make comments without understanding the intimate details of the issue shall we? China for e.g., which is 10 years ahead of India at least in infrastructure first setup a bid, in which various international manufacturers like Bombardier and Japans Kawasaki, participated. Bombardier won that order and delivered first trains back in 2006. The Chinese model is based on transfer of technology. It can now produce those trains domestically. In Delhi Metro's case the rolling stock was supplied by a consortium of companies comprising Hyundai Rotem, Mitsubishi Corporation, and MELCO, after which local production could be setup and now we have the technology to build our own cars. Similar approach was used for the phase 2 Bombardier rolling stock. Therefore instead of being hyper-inflated let's be realistic.

[IndiaAndBharat]

Originally Posted by aksstar

1. There isn't an air conditioned metro rail in every major city! Delhi is the only city, beside Kolkota, that has been able to implement metro system in phases. There is a big difference between a plan and it's implementation. Now work is in progress, which is encouraging, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

2. Let's not make comments without understanding the intimate details of the issue shall we? China for e.g., which is 10 years ahead of India at least in infrastructure first setup a bid, in which various international manufacturers like Bombardier and Japans Kawasaki, participated. Bombardier won that order and delivered first trains back in 2006. The Chinese model is based on transfer of technology. It can now produce those trains domestically. In Delhi Metro's case the rolling stock was supplied by a consortium of companies comprising Hyundai Rotem, Mitsubishi Corporation, and MELCO, after which local production could be setup and now we have the technology to build our own cars. Similar approach was used for the phase 2 Bombardier rolling stock. Therefore instead of being hyper-inflated let's be realistic.

On both the points, I somewhat agree with you. But it is also true that India is changing infront of our own eyes... In every big cities the construction is going on for the merto rails... The difference in time between planning an implemetaion is also getting reduced with time due to healthy competetion between the cities...

[purty_trash]

Originally Posted by aksstar

1. There isn't an air conditioned metro rail in every major city! Delhi is the only city, beside Kolkota, that has been able to implement metro system in phases. There is a big difference between a plan and it's implementation. Now work is in progress, which is encouraging, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

2. Let's not make comments without understanding the intimate details of the issue shall we? China for e.g., which is 10 years ahead of India at least in infrastructure first setup a bid, in which various international manufacturers like Bombardier and Japans Kawasaki, participated. Bombardier won that order and delivered first trains back in 2006. The Chinese model is based on transfer of technology. It can now produce those trains domestically. In Delhi Metro's case the rolling stock was supplied by a consortium of companies comprising Hyundai Rotem, Mitsubishi Corporation, and MELCO, after which local production could be setup and now we have the technology to build our own cars. Similar approach was used for the phase 2 Bombardier rolling stock. Therefore instead of being hyper-inflated let's be realistic.

I agree with you about not getting hyperinflated. But I'd rather have the optimism of today than the pessimism of yesteryears. To start with, I never believed that metro would EVER be completed in delhi. I thought it was an eyewash. I'm a changed man today.

Like you pointed out, work is already in progress in our major cities (I meant chennai, bangalore, mumbai, hyderabad). From my side of things I don't see why these projects won't be completed unless there's a some major, unforeseen disaster. But there're many a slips...

[IndiaAndBharat]

Originally Posted by purty_trash

Like you pointed out, work is already in progress in our major cities (I meant chennai, bangalore, mumbai, hyderabad).

Add jaipur as well.... Also extention is going on in both delhi and kolkata..

[p2p4]

deleted

[Yagya]

B2C, do you think this news I posted in the Jaipur Projects Thread has got to do anything with this? Could you please check: This

[Bombay2Calcutta]

Originally Posted by Yagya

B2C, do you think this news I posted in the Jaipur Projects Thread has got to do anything with this? Could you please check: This

Yes this is related to this .

[Cov Boy]

Major investment is needed in upgrading & modernising stations, rolling stock, services, locomotives, safety & infrastructure before bullet style trains are introduced.

Just like how the Airports in the country have been upgraded is the samething the Railways need.

[shravan27]

but dont u guys think that this high speed rail wont attract the masses bcuz one ticket would be atleast 2000 rupees

[aksstar]

^ 1. In a country like India that is vast and large there will be demand for high speed rail. I think right now you pay a similar amount for express trains like Shatabdi and Rajdhani (correct me if I am mistaken). Therefore I don't think one needs to worry about demand. The main point is that this would be a huge investment for the economy and GDP. It will create jobs and is a future oriented outlook.

[sidney_jec]

if ever implemented the fares wont be around 2000 bucks. it would have a similar fare structure as that of the flights. I read this here on SSC itself in some news item

[ir desi]

Originally Posted by Bombay2Calcutta

The Indian Ministry of Railways' white-paper Vision 2020 submitted to Indian Parliament by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on December 18 2009 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:

1. Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar.
2. Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad.
3. Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijayawada-Chennai
4. Howrah-Haldia
5. Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam
6. 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.

Estimated cost

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). RITES is currently performing a feasibility study.

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).

Whoever drew the map couldn't tell his Jodhpur from his Udaipur.