Thursday, December 4, 2014

HURDLES ON THE TRACK: INDIA AND HIGH SPEED RAIL (PART 1)


India has around 65,000 route kilometres of railway line spread out across the entire country. Indian Railways operates about 19,000 trains a day.It consists of about 12,000 passenger trains and 7,000 freight trains. It is a unique experience travelling this vast country on trains. Nowhere does the kaleidoscopic nature of this great nation become evident other than while travelling by rail. In 2013, Indian Railways clocked close to 1,100 Billion Passenger Kilometres. It is equivalent to every Indian travelling 1,100 kilometres a year by train. This is the highest in the world. 

To give you a comparison, it is like carrying the entire population of Australia around the circumference of the earth more than once. And I am talking here only about passenger travel in India. If you consider even the goods trains then the number will be many many times Bigger. Every day, Indian railway carries around 25 million people to their destinations. This number is bigger than the population of Kenya. 

But behind all these nice sounding numbers lies a harsh reality. India ferries so many passengers, but at what speed? What might be the average train speed in India? Well, in 2012, it was estimated that an express train runs at an average speed of 50 kilometres an hour and a goods train at 25 kilometres an hour. EMUs (electrical multiple units) run at about 40 kilometres an hour and ordinary passenger trains cover 36 kilometres an hour [1].

Many trains were introduced after 2013. Consequently, present day average train speed figures are still less.High-speed Rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport that operates using an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks to have an average speed of 250 Kilometres Per Hour (Kmph) or above.

Well, shouldn't we be increasing the speed of our trains? Should we introduce high speed trains that can take a passenger from say New Delhi to Chennai in 5 hours? If so, what changes or new things we need to bring so that we can run superfast high speed train like china and japan do Or even better? Is it safe? Is high speed rail even needed at all? And if so, can India, a developing country with so many "Handicaps" (not my words) afford it? In this article, the various technologies and economic impacts will be reviewed to examine how HSR can change the transportation scenario in India.

THE HIGH SPEED RAILWAY (HSR) IN PERSPECTIVE.
High speed rail has the potential to be a great transportation asset to travellers, economies, and the environment. Where implemented, it has characteristically become the preferred transit mode. It is a knowhow that has been used throughout various countries, some with more success than others, beginning as early as the 1960’s [2].

In high concentration areas, especially those with high volumes of traffic and congestion, a well-developed rail system is a very appropriate mode of transportation. In an age of increased air quality concerns and mobility, many are finding high-speed rail to be a practical and pleasant alternative to automobiles and airplane travel. High speed rail is capable of radically reducing travel times with maxi-mum speeds well into the 450 km/h range or higher, but it has to balance with energy consumption and economic feasibility.

Usually High speed trains have speeds of over 300 km/h, drastically reducing the time taken to reach a destination. They are investments that take many years to realize a yield, but some countries are starting to see Systems start to pay off and begin to make profit.

Countries with well-developed networks of HSR have seen various types of commercial impact. Several of them have experienced the consolidation of their enormous, dynamic urban centres and corporate hubs as transportation between major cities has become quicker and easier [3]

 Many of the densely populated cities in India are facing strong air pollution and traffic congestion concerns. High-speed rail can potentially reduce both of these resulting in lower emissions and a smart and often speedier mode of transport to workers and travellers [4].

 Rail networks are not only linking major cities within Europe and Asia, but also those in other countries as well as the networks grow to span across the world.

The way the mass transportation system of a country works is intricately linked to its economic growth. If we spend a lot in transporting people and goods, the price of goods and services will be more. People will have to pay more for basic living. 

This has two effects. One, it will erode the savings of the people and two; people will have less money left for other things. By this time, their purchasing power has been reduced. There is a fall in demand. The industries face losses as their production slows down due to fall in demand. Since earning is less, industries downsize their labour as they have no work due to decrease in production (which is in turn due to fall in demand). Now the jobless labour force is unutilised, creating complications for the society as a whole.

There can be any number of problems like law and order problem, civil unrest, rise in extremism, mass migrations etc. As you can see, how transportation is done is very important for the national economy. And  doing it in the most cost-effective way helps in the growth of the National economy.
This is where the Railways come into the picture. It has been seen that Railways offers the most inexpensive mode of terrestrial long-distance bulk transportation. This is important for many reasons.

As I pointed out earlier, the way a transport system of a country works is intricately linked to its economic growth. Plus there is lesser pollution and greenhouse gas emission per capita during rail travel. In short, the carbon footprint is least in rail travel. All that is fine. But why do we need High Speed Rail travel? Will the existing Rail system not be enough for our needs? 

The answer to this question is linked to a fundamental concept in economics. Namely, that the increase in economic activity is essential for economic growth. Economic activity can be defined as Actions that involve the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services at all levels within a society[5].  Now how do you increase economic activity? One way is that you increase the resources in an economy. But resources are finite.

Another way is you increase the speed with which economic activity is taking place. That way, the resources are utilised better and faster. How do you increase the speed of economic activity? Well it can be done if you have quick ways of moving Information, goods and people. Information nowadays moves very fast due to advancements in communications technology. It is moving goods and people that create an obstacle for rapid economic growth. If we can somehow move goods and people from one place to another at reasonable cost, then we can achieve faster economic growth. Enter High Speed Rail.



 Even in terms of cost, slower trains cost us more than High speed rail (we will come to costing later in the chapter). I will tell you how. It takes almost 36 hours to travel from Bangalore to New Delhi by Rajdhani Express (which is the fastest long-distance mail express). Say we were able to travel from Bangalore to New Delhi in just 6 hours. That would save 30 hours of travel time for every person travelling. Calculations show that this saving of 30 man hours per person travelling translates to a saving of around $1.85 billion every year. That is a whopping Rs. 11,100 crores saved every year (at prevailing dollar rates). 

This saving will increase the purchasing power and also earning capacity of Indians who will use the high speed railway system. The above estimate is only for long distance rail travel (like from Bengaluru to Delhi; or Mumbai to Delhi). If you consider short distance (Bangalore-Chennai) or intermediate distance (Patna-Delhi) then the estimate increases to about more than two and half times(this is because of higher number of people travelling short distances and also the cumulative effect of more people travelling). This translates to a saving of almost Rs. 25,000 crores and above every year. Moreover the estimate has considered average per capita income (PPP).

But the people travelling in trains have slightly higher per capita income based on class of travel. Therefore the savings will be much higher. Suffice to say that due to a High Speed Rail Network economic activity will get a boost to the tune of $ 2 billion per year in savings alone.

     (END OF PART 1)                                                                               

                                                                                                      - Dr.Kartik Hegadekatti.

Dr.Kartik Hegadekatti is an Indian Civil Service officer presently serving in the Ministry of Railways in India.Views Expressed are Personal. 

HURDLES ON THE TRACK: INDIA AND HIGH SPEED RAIL (PART 2)


HIGH SPEED RAIL- HURDLES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Japan was devastated by two atom bombs dropped on it at the end of the Second World War. Their country was in a state of utter ruin and destruction. Amidst this post war chaos and uncertainty, the Japanese worked hard to rebuild their entire nation back from scratch. After years of hard work and dedication Japan introduced the Shinkansen or famously known as "Bullet train" in 1964. Just 19 years after the atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

 The Shinkansen went on to become the inspiration to other high speed rail networks in the world. Though the Japanese pioneered the "bullet train" they had to face many difficulties. Several technological, cultural and financial hurdles had to be passed to make the bullet train a reality. India is now at the very same spot that Japan was when it introduced the bullet train. We will also face many hurdles to build a vast nation-wide network of HSR. And India is 10 times larger than Japan. But unlike japan, we have a distinct advantage. Japan had to build everything from zero. But it has been 50 years since BULLET TRAINS have been around. 

Several models have been introduced and HSR technology has seen a lot of improvement over the years. Financially also, India is well-to-do than it was, say 20 years ago. 

Nevertheless we will have to cover a lot of ground to catch up with the rest of the HSR nations (Japan, china, Germany, France, Italy, Taiwan, South Korea, Turkey, Spain and many others). 
Let us see the various aspects of HSR-the hurdles and the opportunities.

FINANCIAL
Perhaps the most important question on everyone's mind nowadays is this. What might be the cost of a full-fledged vast railway network for India. HSR requires large fixed capital investments and thus necessitate a blend of high density and government investment to be competitive against existing capital infrastructure.

For costs, we have to compare the various HSR nations.

Germany’s high-speed railway between Frankfurt and Cologne cost $ 41 million a kilometre[6].
For Spain, there are estimates ranging from $7.5 million per kilometre (for the Madrid-Seville line, opened in 1992) to nearly $24 million (for the Madrid-Valladolid line) whereas the per-kilometre cost of Italian high-speed rail surpassed $54 million [6].

In Japan, lines generally cost between $43.5 million and $56 million per kilometre to build.[6]

The U.K. has the highest high-speed rail construction costs, with the Channel Tunnel clocking in at $ 87 million a kilometre[6].

China’s high speed rail with a maximum speed of 350 km/h has a typical infrastructure unit cost of about US$ 17-21m per km, with a high ratio of bridges and tunnels, as compared with $25-39 million per km in Europe and $ 56million per km currently estimated in California [7].

The Mumbai–Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor is an approved 500 odd Km high-speed rail corridor in India connecting the cities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The project is estimated to cost between Rs 35,000 to 60,000 crore($ 10 Billion) [8].

Considering the cost of the Mumbai–Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor, it works out to around Rs 120 crores per Kilometre i.e. around $20 million per Km. Since the purchasing power of Indian rupee is higher; India has a distinct Purchase Parity Power advantage [9]. This translates to around $14 million per Kilometre of high speed Rail investment. Add to this the sourcing of labour, materials and services within the country and the price can be brought down to about $12 million per kilometre [10].
To setup a country wide HSR network connecting all the metro cities of India will come to around 12,000 kilometres.


•          Diamond Quadrilateral (Delhi - Mumbai - Chennai - Kolkata - Delhi)- Around 6,000 Kms
•          Delhi-Chennai-     2,200 Kms
•          Mumbai-Kolkata- 2,000 Kms
•          Delhi-Amritsar   - 450 Kms
•          Rajkot-Veraval   - 350 Kms
•          Chennai-Trivandrum -850 Kms             
•          Trivandrum-Mangaluru High-Speed Corridor-585 Kms    
•          Bengaluru-Mysuru High-Speed Corridor-110 Kms 

Considering a price range of about $ 12-15 million/Km; the cost comes to about $150-180 Billion. Spread out over a period of 10 years (to build the network), India must spend about $18 Billion per year. That is a little above Rs 1,00,000 crores (1 Lakh Crores) every year. Just to give us an idea whether it is feasible or not; India's expenditure in the year 2013-14 was Rs 16 Lakh Crores. 

Around 6% of the budget can be earmarked for HSR. Even then, 6% of our Budget seems quite high. But we need to remember that there will be many stake holders for a project of such important nature. There will be international companies, private companies, public sector units, individual stake-holders and so on involved in the project. Inspite of all this, the government may have to invest substantial resources into HSR, say around 3% of the budget (for 10 years only).

Think of it as spending Rs 3 daily out of a total daily expenditure of Rs 100 on transport. It is common knowledge that a person who commutes to work daily spends much more than 3% of daily average expenditure on travelling alone. Furthermore, as our economy is growing in size the money to be set aside will be lesser than 3% of our budgetary expenditure.  On a national scale for an economy like ours, HSR is affordable and well within our financial means.

CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY
To build a network of reliable HSR in India is to take a quantum leap in technology. Fresh new tracks have to be laid, signalling system has to be advanced, new set of engines, and compartments, electrical systems etc. have to be built. The HSR track, unlike normal Railway tracks, has to be fenced and isolated from the external environment. 

This is because at speeds if greater than 350 km/hr, the train tends to suck in air onto the tracks due to the high speed and if any cattle or people are near the tracks, it will pull them in with disastrous consequences. It is also for this reason that level crossing gates will be eliminated. The HSR will pass either above or under the roads, but never in level with it. Thus chances of collisions with automobiles will be almost eliminated.
In India, some people have a habit of defecating on railway tracks. Well, the bad news is, they no can't do that on HSR tracks as the tracks will be raised and present within a well fenced area. 

This is the cultural aspect of the HSR that needs to be incorporated into any planning that is done in this regard. Villages nearby the HSR tracks need to be provided with proper toilets and the people should be educated about HSR trains and tracks passing through or nearby their villages. That way, the Swach Bharat Mission is intricately linked to any future HSR that will be built in India.

Indians, especially children are also in the habit of pelting stones at moving trains with catastrophic results. Many train passengers have lost their eyes and limbs because of such mischievous elements.

A stone tossed in the direction of a 350 Km/h train, when it hits the train, creates a similar impact like a bullet being fired. It can shatter glasses and injure passengers inside.it can even damage engine and cause accidents. Indian HSR may have to use sturdier materials to protect the train's body.

The stone-pelters may have no mala-fide intent and they sometimes do it to while away their time. But irrespective of the intent, such hooliganism should not be tolerated and must be dealt strictly as per the law. Therefore, the policing on railways must be up-graded with latest technology and training. 

Similarly, littering along railway tracks by passengers or public has to end. Litter and debris on HSR tracks can cause problems in the movement and attainment of required speed. The public should be educated and law implemented regarding this matter. Some people may say that such kind of "western" cleanliness is not possible in India. I would advise them to go see the Delhi Metro. It is one of the cleanest Rail Setup in Asia.

Likewise the direct discharge toilet system followed on Indian Railways has no scope whatsoever in the future HSR. In the direct discharge toilet system, feces are discharged directly onto the tracks. Faeces on the tracks cause corrosion and degradation of track materials. Moreover it spoils the aesthetic appeal of trains and stations. We can't afford to spend lakhs of crores on building a new network only to have it degraded by feces discharged on the tracks. Moreover, at such high speeds implementing a direct discharge toilet system is not possible. Air pressure variations will have to be taken into account which makes direct discharge impractical. Bio-toilets or other system will have to be installed.

ENERGY
Since high speed is needed, HSR will use electricity to run. There are certain advantages to it. Electric HSR promotes energy independence and ecological sustainability. Electric trains use less energy to transport people and goods on a per unit basis and can draw power from a wide array of sources of energy including renewable sources than automobile and aeroplanes, which as we know are heavily dependent on imported fuel[#]. 

How much energy does HSR involve in terms of operations? I.e. How much energy will be spent in carrying a person from one place to another by HSR.


This estimate is important for two reasons. One, it allows us to calculate operational cost of which energy (or fuel) is the major component. 
Second, it lets us monitor the carbon footprint and hence assess the efficiency with respect to environmental impact. 

Estimates show that a 12,000 Km HSR carrying around 15 million Passengers annually will need around 4,400 Gwh (Gigawatt Hour) of energy to run. This is around 0.4% of India's annual electricity Production. A separate High Speed Rail Grid is necessary to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the network. 

A nuclear reactor consisting of 4 reactor units, each producing 1,600 Gwh annually can be earmarked to supply power to the HSR grid.
(END OF PART 2)
                                                                         
                                                                - Dr.Kartik Hegadekatti.

Dr.Kartik Hegadekatti is an Indian Civil Service officer presently serving in the Ministry of Railways in India.Views Expressed are Personal. 

HURDLES ON THE TRACK: INDIA AND HIGH SPEED RAIL (PART 3)

THE DYNAMICS OF HIGH SPEED RAIL - ANALYSING  VIABILITY IN THE INDIAN SETUP
The case for high speed rail is dependent on a number of market factors and the development of high speed rail appears to be correlated with certain factors.

The case for high speed rail is strongest in countries where there is a large market for travel over distances of around 200-800 km*, and particularly in the range 300-1000 km. India has around a million long distance train travellers every day. Seen from this perspective, India has a very large High Speed Rail Market waiting to be tapped.

A high speed line can offer very high capacity. For sufficient travel demand for HSR capacity to be utilised effectively, there must be very large cities approximately the right distances apart.  There must also be a number of significant population centres that can be accessed by the same high speed route. India has this combination in the right proportion. Say a train going from Delhi to Kolkata. The HSR can run through the following route; Delhi-Agra-Kanpur-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna-Dhanbad-Kolkata.

The existence of very good conventional rail lines reduces the incremental economic cost for high speed rail, particularly over shorter distances, although if it is possible to use existing railway lines on final approaches to major cities, the construction costs of high speed rail can be significantly reduced.
Demand and capacity- many countries have built high-speed rail lines as much for reasons of capacity as for reasons of speed (securing incremental passengers-due to increase in passenger population- as also for journey time savings for existing passengers). The benefits of new construction will be highest when this new capability can be fully utilised early on – particularly when relatively high discount rates are used
Population distribution: the distribution of population around city centres relative to more distant suburbs, will affect the potential benefits of high speed rail. Journey times and distance High-speed rail enables journeys over medium distances to be made quickly.
HSR is better at serving markets where demand is located closely around key nodes. High speed rail can serve a higher proportion of potential markets in countries like India, where most of the urban population lives in compactly populated cities.
As discussed above, high speed rail lines can provide very high capacity and the benefits of investment will be more if this capability can be well utilised. It would be very unusual for there to be such great demand for travel between two individual cities that a dedicated high speed line can be justified: the line must also be able to handle passengers to/from other cities, either along or beyond the core route. The case for building of high speed lines is likely to be stronger if population is situated in corridors that can be served by a single line*. 

COMPARISON
Let us compare the various High Speed Rail systems in operation around the world to get some insight into which kind of HSR system India can choose.

JAPANESE
SHINKANSEN E5
CHINA RAILWAYS CRH380A
RUSSIAN
SAPSAN
TAIWAN
THSR 700T
GERMAN
ICE 3
FRENCH
TGV DUPLEX
ITALY
ETR 500
Maximum speed (Km/h)
320
380
250
300
330
320
300
Speed record (Km/h)
 -
486
290
315
368
574.8
362
Levels
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
Passenger capacity
731        
494        
604        
989
460        
512        
671
Entered service
2011      
2010      
2009      
2007      
2000      
1995 Jun 21               
1992
Weight
-
-
667 t     
503 t     
409 t
380 t     
640 t
Train length

-
666.01 ft. (203 m)
820.75 ft (250 m)
997.37 ft (304 m)         
656.16 ft. (200 m)
656.16 ft. (200 m)
1,162.50 ft. (354.33 m)
Manufacturer
Hitachi, Kawasaki Heavy Industries               
China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Corporation Limited
Siemens               
Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Rolling Stock Company, Hitachi Rail, Nippon Sharyo 
Siemens               
ALSTOM (GEC-Alstom)               
TREVI SpA
GAUGE
1435 mm
1435 mm
1520 mm
1435 mm
1435 mm
1435 mm
1435 mm
OPERATOR
JR EAST
SHANGHAI RAIL BUREAU
RUSSIAN RAILWAYS
THSRC
DEUTSCHE BAHN
SNCF
TRENITALIA
POWER OUTPUT (Kw)
9,960
-
8,000
10,260
8,000
9,280
8,800
BRAKING
Regenerative
Regenerative
electrical continuous pneumatic
-
Regenerative
Eddy currents
-
Regenerative
pneumatic
-

We can see from the above table that Russia has a 1520 mm gauge whereas all other nations have 1435 mm gauge or Standard gauge. Existing Indian Rail Network is mainly Broad-gauge or Indian Gauge i.e. 1676 mm that is 5 ft 6 in. India is able to carry so many passengers and freight in huge numbers because we have the Broad gauge network. But most of the HSR technology is calibrated to standard Gauge. So here, we have to make a choice between selecting standard gauge technology and developing a broad gauge HSR which will be the first in the world. I think that it is imperative that we choose Broad gauge for our future HSR network as it will give us higher capacity. Moreover we can make it a part of the System of Indian Standards (SIS)-Refer Chapter on System of Indian Standards  and promote broad gauge HSR internationally as well as in the future.

ADVANTAGES OF HSR

ENERGY EFFICIENCY [11]
Travel by rail is more competitive in areas of higher population density or where fuel is expensive, because trains are more fuel-efficient than cars when ridership is high, comparable to other forms of mass transit. In Japan and France, which have extensive high-speed rail networks, a large proportion of electricity comes from nuclear power[12].On the Eurostar, a train which primarily runs off the French electricity network, emissions from travelling by train from London to Paris are 90% lower than by flying [13].
Even using electricity generated from coal or oil, high-speed trains are considerably more fuel-efficient per passenger per kilometer traveled than the usual automobile due to economies of scale in generator technology [14].
High-speed rail can accommodate more passengers at far higher speeds than automobiles. Generally, the longer the journey, the better the time advantage of rail over road if going to the same destination. High speed rail provides considerably reduced travel times between cities. However, high-speed rail can be competitive with cars on shorter distances also,say 0–150 kilometres like in commuting, given road congestion or costly parking fees.
Although air transit moves at higher speeds, its total time to destination can be increased by check-in, baggage handling, security and boarding. These procedures also add cost to air travel[15].Trains are preferred in shorter, mid-range distances since rail stations are typically closer to urban centers than airports [16].
Likewise, air travel needs longer distances to have a speed advantage after accounting for both processing time and travel to the airport.
Electric HSR supports energy independence and is eco-friendly. Electric trains use less energy to transport goods and people on a per unit electricity(kilowatt) basis and can take power from more varied sources of energy including renewables than automobile and aircraft, which are more reliant on imported petroleum.

SAFETY [20]
HSR is much simpler to control due to its predictable course. High-speed rail systems reduce (but do not eliminate) [21] Collisions with automobiles or people, by using non-grade level track and eliminating grade-level crossings.

SPACE UTILISATION AND CONVENIENCE
A typical passenger rail carries 2.83 times as many passengers per hour per metre width as a road. A representative train is the Eurostar, which provides capacity for 12 trains per hour and 800 passengers per train, totalling 9,600 passengers per hour in each direction. By contrast, the Highway Capacity Manual gives a maximum capacity of 2,250 passenger cars per hour per lane, excluding other vehicles. Assuming  average vehicle occupancy of 1.57 people [26].

 A standard twin track railway has a typical capacity 13% greater than a 6-lane highway (3 lanes each way) 27,while requiring only 40% of the land (1.0/3.0 versus 2.5/7.5 hectares per kilometre of direct/indirect land consumption) [28].

The Tokaido Shinkansen line in Japan, has a much greater ratio (with as many as 20,000 passengers per hour per direction). Similarly commuter roads tend to carry fewer than 1.57 persons per vehicle (Washington State Department of Transportation, for instance, uses 1.2 persons per vehicle) during commute times [28].

High-speed trains also have comfort advantages, since train passengers are allowed to move freely about the train at any point in the journey17.The seats are also less subject to weight restrictions than on planes, and as such may have more padding and legroom [18].

Rail travel also requires less weather dependency than air travel. A well designed and operated rail system can only be affected by severe weather conditions, such as heavy snow, heavy fog, and major storm. Flights however, generally face cancellations or delays under less severe conditions.
Technology advances such as continuously welded rail have minimized the vibration found on railways, while air travel remains affected by turbulence when adverse wind conditions arise [19].Trains can also accommodate intermediate stops at lower time and energetic costs than planes.

TECHNOLOGY, GROWTH AND EMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.

By building a HSR system, India can develop an indigenous high-speed rail Technology industry. The creation and expansion of HSR can develop India into a leader of high-speed rail building technology. Indian engineers are capable of absorbing imported technologies quickly, localize production processes, and even begin to compete with foreign suppliers in the export market. Plus there will be spin-offs We did it in the defence market with BrahMos Supersonic cruise missiles. It is very well possible to do so in this sector also.

Additionally, shifting passengers to high-speed lines allows conventional railways to carry more freight, which is more profitable for railways[23]. HSR facilitates cross-city economic assimilation and encourages the growth of second-tier cities. The introduction of the high-speed railways was responsible for 59% of the increase in market potential for the secondary cities connected by bullet trains. (Market potential, a concept used by economic geographers, measures "a geographic area's access to markets for inputs and outputs.") A 10% increase in a secondary city's market potential is expected to be associated with a 4.5% increase in its average real estate price [25].

HSR is bound to improve economic productivity and competitiveness over the long term by increasing the transport capacity of railways and linking labour markets [22].

Furthermore, building the HSR is a labour intensive process.it is estimated that an investment of $1 Billion will create around 25,000 direct jobs. Indirect jobs created will be many times that number. In building the HSR we might have to involve millions of people. HSR will become an avenue to employ the surplus and inexpensive labour that India has. This Stimulates the economy in the short term as HSR construction creates jobs and drives up demand for construction industries like consultancy, cement and steel. 

Work on the Beijing–Shanghai PDL mobilized 110,000 workers [24]. This shows that we can tap into our vast labour market and reap the 'Demographic Dividend' that India has been waiting for.

Thus, we have seen that though High Speed Rail system needs heavy investment initially, it turns out well for the economy and the people. The advantages of  building a High Speed Rail system is immense and beneficial to the society. Consequently we should work towards establishing a safe and efficient High Speed Rail system in India.
                                        
                                               - Dr.Kartik Hegadekatti.

Dr.Kartik Hegadekatti is an Indian Civil Service officer presently serving in the Ministry of Railways in India.Views Expressed are Personal. 

REFERENCES
1.  http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/at-what-speed-do-indian-trains-run-305590.Retrieved on 27 Nov 2014.
2.  K. Fender, “High Speed Rail Revolution,” Trains, Vol. 71, 2011, pp. 24-31.
3.  http://file.scirp.org/Html/7-3500118_31854.htm. Retrieved on 28 Nov 2014.
4. D. Carol, M. Leger, W. Zuber and M, Downey, “An Introduction to High Speed Rail—A Multidisciplinary Challenge,” Velocity Network, No. 73, 2011, pp. 1-3. 
5. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/economic-activity.html#ixzz3KLSOebom. Retrieved on 27 Nov 2014
6. http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/spain-high-speed-train-toronto-commuter-new-york-elevators
7. http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/07/10/cost-of-high-speed-rail-in-china-one-third-lower-than-in-other-countries
8. http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-high-speed-railway-project-talks-put-on-fast-track-1975807. Retrieved on 27 Nov 2014
9. Seen on an equal footing, the Indian rupee has 30% more purchasing power than the Chinese Renminbi Yuan.
10. India has distinct PPP advantages if labour, materials and services are locally sourced.
11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail#Energy_efficiency
12. The Times, Friday, 6 January 2006, p54. France will run trains free from fossil fuel, says Chirac.
13. "Cut your CO2 emissions by taking the train, by up to 90%...". Seat61. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
14. Prashant Vaze. The Economical Environmentalist. Earthscan. p. 298.
15. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/columnists/nicktrend/8345279/Trains-or-planes-The-great-European-travel-test.html
16. http://www.techthefuture.com/mobility/high-speed-train-vs-airplane/
17. http://www.amtrak.com/the-unique-amtrak-experience-with-many-benefits retrieved on 27 Nov 2014
18. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail#Energy_efficiency
19. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail#cite_note-45
20. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail
21. "Fatal high-speed train kills 12 young pedestrians near beach in Barcelona". Bild.de. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
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* HIGH SPEED RAIL: INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS Final Report February 2004 Prepared for Commission for Integrated Transport Page 64.