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.
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