Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Pune High-Speed Rail Project Gets Closer to Realisation

[tarunraju]

The dreams of Amdavadis to reach Mumbai in less than two hours have moved a step closer to realisation. The detailed project report for the bullet train between Ahmedabad-Pune has been finally submitted to the railway board.

The report has pegged the cost of the project, which covers nearly 530 km between Ahmedabad-Pune, at around Rs 56,000 crore. Of this, around Rs 50,000 crore will be used for the construction of tracks and other infrastructure alone. Officials in the western division said that once the detailed project report gets a clearance, the fund sharing will also be decided between the Maharashtra and the Gujarat governments. The bullet train, which is capable of running at 350 km per hour speed, aims to reduce the travel time between Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Pune to less than three hours.

The current travel time for the 450 km distance between Ahmedabad and Mumbai is six hours and thirty minutes by the non stop Duronto train. The same for the 100 km Pune-Mumbai is three hours. The report has also suggested alignment, fare structure and volume of passengers in the proposed high-speed corridor, the first of its kind in the country.

Officials said the pre-feasibility study by a French rail transport company reveals a travel time of 1 hour 52 minutes between Ahmedabad-Mumbai without any stops at a speed of about 350 km per hour. The same from Mumbai to Pune is estimated to be around 40 minutes.

The study has also predicted that 26.6 million passengers would travel by the bullet train every year with 2021 as the horizon year.

Officials said that the major issue would be the fund sharing between Mumbai and Pune. Gujarat wanted the train to run only till Mumbai, but on the request of the Maharashtra government the project was extended till Pune.

Officials said that the railways have already made it clear that the entire project would be on a public-private-partnership. Earlier this year, a French rail transport company was awarded the contract for conducting pre-feasibility study.

Read more: Bullet train project gets closer to realisation - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...isation/articleshow/7067940.cms#ixzz17dYWHJ8U

 

[tarunraju]

That French company appears to be none other than TGV:

 

[chex3009]

Hope this project gets on a fast track. It will give much required boost to Mass Rapid Transportation required in this part of the country. Good to hear our government thinking in this way and awarding a feasibility study.

 

[tarunraju]

Hope this project gets on a fast track. It will give much required boost to Mass Rapid Transportation required in this part of the country. Good to hear our government thinking in this way and awarding a feasibility study.

Of course, this network will get its own elevated track that uses a different gauge from the standard Broad Gauge, it will have its own stations, and rolling stock. Like DMRC, it will be private and not under the jurisdiction of Indian Railways.

 

[Rahul Singh]

Officials said the pre-feasibility study by a French rail transport company reveals a travel time of 1 hour 52 minutes between Ahmedabad-Mumbai without any stops at a speed of about 350 km per hour.

We being vast country can't just keep importing technologies. We imported rolling stocks from Hyundai and Bombardier for DMRC. Now i hear more cities planing to have metro rails. I mean, how long we will continue to be dependent on others. I don't think we lack technical expertise and infrastructure. Then why not develop own metro trains, high speed trains through public-privet partnership. Just by importing things we can only dream to get accepted as any kind of power forget super-power.

 

[tarunraju]

No country can start on its own. Even China had to import its first HS trains before it started making its own. We'd be reinventing the wheel if we did a high-speed rail project completely on our own.

Indian Railways imported first batches of WDP/G-4 locomotives from US, WAG-9, WAP-7, WAP-5 locomotives from Switzerland. Today they're all being made in India, at Varanasi and Chittaranjan. We're free to make use of that intellectual property, just as DLW made use of WDP-4 IP in making WDM-3D locomotive.

Now that we have knowhow from Bombardier, future metro rakes will be acquired over ToT, and made by ICF, Chennai.

 

[plugwater]

Railways working on high-speed corridor project

PATNA: Under the Vision 2020 plan, the Indian Railways has decided to complete its most ambitious high-speed corridor project. While a feasibility study of the proposed high-speed passenger train corridors at six places across the country is being carried out at identified places, the railways is keen to accelerate the pace of development work now. The railways intends to run high-speed passenger trains at 200-250 kmph. Currently, trains run at the maximum speed of 160 kmph on the Delhi-Bhopal route.
The railways has already identified these places located on the Delhi-Chandigarh, Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Hyderabad-Vijawada-Chennai, Howrah-Haldia, Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore- Ernakulam and Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna sections. The feasibility study is being taken up on cost-sharing basis with the governments in these states.


According to a former technical expert of the railways, G N Sahay, the proposed high-speed passenger train corridors have become inevitable for the railways to keep pace with air services. "Countries like Turkey and Morocco are well set to introduce high-speed corridor passenger trains soon. The Indian Railways must not lag behind now," he said.
Sahay said it would provide an alternative mode of communication to passengers at a time when the cost of travelling by air and train is more or less the same in AC first class .Besides, it would be the fastest journey by trains in the country, he said .
According to Sahay, the railways initially intends to develop a stretch of about 2000 km as the high-speed corridor in the country. The railways proposes to build elevated corridors at those points where fencing on tracks is not feasible on high-speed corridor routes. The Patna-New Delhi route could be converted into a high-speed corridor. Tracks have been replaced all along the route. The present track condition is conducive to run high-speed trains on the Patna-New Delhi route. However, the railways needs to improve signalling system on this particular route, he said.
According to sources, the total cost of the survey work on the Patna-Delhi route would incur about Rs 11 crore. Since the 1000-km-long route falls under the territories of Bihar, UP and Delhi, the total area falling under Bihar is hardly 200 km, sources said.
A Railway Board official described a meeting held recently with the state government as positive. The state government would cooperate with the railways while carrying out the work on the high-speed corridor project. This ambitious project will enable the railways to increase its earnings, he said .
According to Sahay, the Indian Railways has the largest network in the country. Introduction of high-speed passenger trains on the pattern of foreign counties would fill railway coffers as elite class passengers would prefer to undertake journey safely by such high-speed trains.
"The project will be directly monitored by the High Speed Authority in the country to expedite fast development of the network," he said.


Railways working on high-speed corridor project - Times Of India

 

[nrj]

Can PMO get time to look into many ministries taken under umbrella? Where is Railways Minister? Come tomorrow we'll have mobs complaining about land acquisition proposal.

 

[Phenom]

So will this be on the same tracks are would new tracks be laid

 

[plugwater]

So will this be on the same tracks are would new tracks be laid

I think they are going to use the existing tracks and some strengthening if needed.

 

[LurkerBaba]

So will this be on the same tracks are would new tracks be laid

New tracks would probably be used.

But, I hope Indian Gauge is used, instead of Standard Gauge (high speed rail is mostly standard gauge worldwide)

 

[JBH22]

That French company appears to be none other than TGV:

TGV means Train a grande vitesse ( Fast Train) the company that manufactures them is Alstom.

 

[Yusuf]

I just travelled by high speed rail in Taiwan from Kaohsiung to Taipei. Wonderful experience. It's on a privately funded structure and that is how it should be in India too. That will ensure that the quality of the service will remain top notch. It would directly compete with airplanes. So that would ensure both air and high speed train travel remain fast, efficient and relatively affordable.

 

[Yusuf]

Just adding that Kaohsiung to Taipei is about 375 km and it took the high speed train with just one stop 1.30 hours and a business class ticket costs USD 70 = Rs 3100 , normal fare is USD 50= 2200. if we keep this as base, then this is an equivalent ride between bangalore and chennai and the fare comparable to the air fare. I would surely prefer a two hour train ride than an hour or air with all the distance to cover to the airport.

 

[ganesh177]

200-250 speed does not really look that impressive.

 

[Yusuf]

200-250 speed does not really look that impressive.

That is what the definition of high speed rail says. But if bullet or TGV take the contract, we could get faster trains. But I don't think sustained speeds of 300 kmph would be possible everywhere depending on the terrain.

 

[sandeepdg]

200-250 speed does not really look that impressive.

What else do you want, the 500 km/hr Transrapid all the way from Delhi to Mumbai or Patna ? Mate, 200-250 is high speed enough for a country like India where the highest speed that a train could reach in the 150+ years since the inception of Indian railways is 160 kmph for the Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi express ! Jumping 160 kmph to 360 kmph would hardly be easy considering the kind of infrastructure we have and the kind that is required.

 

[Yusuf]

Infrastructure for such a system will have to be completely new. The current lines are not good enough for high speed rail. Even strengthening existing lines will not help as signaling is not good enough and also we cannot have a mix of high and slow rail on the same network.

 

[pmaitra]

Of course, this network will get its own elevated track that uses a different gauge from the standard Broad Gauge, it will have its own stations, and rolling stock. Like DMRC, it will be private and not under the jurisdiction of Indian Railways.

I'm not sure I am getting this. If it is neither Standard nor Broad gauge, what gauge is it going to be?

 

[The Messiah]

What else do you want, the 500 km/hr Transrapid all the way from Delhi to Mumbai or Patna ? Mate, 200-250 is high speed enough for a country like India where the highest speed that a train could reach in the 150+ years since the inception of Indian railways is 160 kmph for the Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi express ! Jumping 160 kmph to 360 kmph would hardly be easy considering the kind of infrastructure we have and the kind that is required.

It may be enough for now but when were building new infrastructure we should might aswell build for the future. Trains running at 500 may not be realistic now but it will be in the future so we should atleast have tracks that can sustain it even if we dont utilize it currently. Imo trains speed target for the near future should be around 350 km/h which can be increased gradually later.