High-speed rail in India
India has one of the largest rail networks in the world. As of 2010, India does not have any high-speed rail lines capable of supporting speeds of 200 km/h (125 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 are often referred to as "bullet-trains". However, periodically interest is expressed by the Government and media in introducing high-speed rail in India.
Current fast-express trains in India
The fastest train in India is the Bhopal Shatabdi, a Shatabdi Express train, with a maximum speed of 160 km/h (100 mph) and an average speed of 93 km/h (58 mph), excluding stops. The Duronto Express trains introduced in 2009, runs without stop between major cities, is projected the fastest train in India, when new services are introduced with a higher speed limit of 130 km/h. Despite limited to a much lower speed limit, it is as fast as a Rajdhani or Shatabdi on the same route (see Tracks and Speed sections). Rajdhani Express which connects New Delhi with other destinations in India was introduced in 1969, has speed up to 140 km/h. These trains are not comparable in speed to the Shinkansen of Japan (and running in Taiwan), TGV of France, InterCityExpress of Germany, the ETR 500 of Italy, the KTX of South Korea, AVE of Spain, the Wuhan-Guangzhou_High-Speed_Railway trains in China, or the HS 1 of the UK (although the Acela Express of the US is classified there as high speed, its average running speed is too low to be truly called high speed.)
Competition
Like elsewhere, railways in India compete with air travel and road transport. The advantages of travelling by air between cities are the greater frequency of flights, and shorter travel time. Rail travel, with few exceptions, offers lower cost.
Rail transport also faces competition from the use of roads improved under National Highways Development Project. People owning cars can, for short distances, benefit in terms of shorter travel time, given the lack of commute to and fro a railway station at both ends of a journey. This is also balanced against the need to maintain one's vehicle and its security during such trips.
Tracks
Duronto, Shatabdi, and Rajdhani trains run on Indian broad-gauge which is 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm). These tracks are multi-purpose supporting all passenger and freight traffic, and are not made exclusively for lighter load fast-express passenger trains. The Rajdhani and Shatabdi adhere to a speed limit of 130 km/h, and the Duronto is limited to 110 km/h. They run on tracks with classifications Group A, permitting speed up to 160 km/h, and Group B for speed up to 130 km/h. Lower speed limits apply when they are on tracks or railway switches, which have lower speed limits. The design of the railway switches, with a speed limit of 15-75 km/h, is the major bottleneck to higher speed. Another constraint is the need to accommodate freight trains at the current top speed of 70 km/h. These constraints to speed are consequences of sharing tracks with freight and lower speed suburban passenger trains. But currently, as of 2010, a separate freight corridor construction work is in progress with land acquisitions and other hurdles being slowly overcome.
Locomotives
Duronto, Shatabdi, and Rajdhani trains are hauled by powerful electric locomotives built by the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, such as WAP-4, WAP-5, or WAP-7, each with an output of more than 5,000 hp. WAP-5 design originated from Bombardier-Adtranz-ABB, and it is capable of pulling trains to speed of 200 km/h without modification. WAP-7 is more powerful, and can haul longer trains, to a speed of 140 km/h..
Coaches
The coaches in these trains are of crash-worthy design from Alstom-LHB, built by Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala. These Alstom-LHB coaches can be pulled to a speed of 200 km/h without any modification. New fast-express coaches are made partly or completely of stainless steel, primarily motivated by lower maintenance, and higher availability. Stainless steel construction also reduces empty weight, enabling more passengers per coach. The bogies, design from Fiat, has 2 disk brakes per axleessential for safe operations especially at the speed of fast-express trains.
Speed
The average speed of fast trains range from 59 to 93 km/h. Of 80 routes (each direction counting as one route) in the Indian Railways schedule, 21 are 80 km/h or faster, 16 are below 70 km/h, remaining 43 have an average speed between 70 and 80 km/h.
The speed of express trains is calculated from Indian Railways schedule.
Regular unbranded express trains on the same route are only slightly slower, since the same locomotives haul them.
Stops
Frequent stops reduce the average running speed of a train greatly by preventing it from gaining higher speed. Duronto, Shatabdi, and Rajdhani express trains have very few stops. The distance between stops is as short as 15 km between Chandrapura-Bokaro Steel City on the Howrah-Ranchi Shatabdi, and as long as 528 km between Vadodara-kota on the Trivandrum Rajdhani. The non-stop service of Sealdah-New Delhi Duronto has three technical stops, for change of staff, loading of food and other reasons, at Dhanbad, Mughal Sarai, and Kanpur Central.
Current effort to increase speed to 160-200 km/h
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 160-200 km/h on dedicated conventional tracks. Train journey between Delhi-Bombay and Delhi-Calcutta will become an overnight service compared with the present 15-16 hours.
- Approach to high-speed
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. 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 to passenger trains
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.
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.
Design, manufacture and deploy railroad switches, with thick web construction and movable crossings that permit 50 km/h to alleviate this bottleneck to speed.
- Upgrade locomotives and coaches
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.
Develop locomotives with output of 9000 to 12000 hp for hauling of 24-26 coach long passenger trains to 160-200 km/h.
Proposal to introduce 250-350 km/h trains in India
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: Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar, Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijayawada-Chennai, Howrah-Haldia, Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam, 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. 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. 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.
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. On 18 February 2008, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, B. S. Yeddyurappa, described a "Bullet train 'as not in the state’s best interest'". He also said that his government will participate in the project only if the Chennai-Bangalore High Speed Rail Link is extended to Mumbai via Hubli, with an additional link to Mysore, both being single tracks on the normal broad gauge track. He also stated that "Such projects will help only the people of Tamil Nadu and Kerala come to Bangalore and not the people of Karnataka. If our suggestions are not taken into consideration, it would be difficult for Karnataka to support the projects envisaged by the Railways."
Two new routes were later proposed by Indian Railways, namely Ahmedabad - Dwarka, via Rajkot, Jamnagar and other from Rajkot to Veraval via Junagadh
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). 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.
- Likely initial lines
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.
- Potential ridership
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).
- Project execution
The National High Speed Rail Authority is being set up. 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), or Rs 41 million per km (US$ 0.89 million/km). A public-private-partnership mode of investment and execution is envisaged for such expensive 250-350 km/h high-speed rail project.
The cost of building high speed rail tracks is about Rs 70 crore per km (U$15.6m/km), compared with Rs 6 crore/km of normal rail tracks.
- Feasibility Studies
The feasibility study of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Pune corridor is complete. 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. It will cost the Railways Rs 8.8 crore for the report.
References
Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_India
