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Noting that high-speed train projects will be an extremely expensive proposition, a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways has asked the Railway Ministry to do a cost-benefit analysis about spending limited resources on high-speed projects rather than routing them to pending projects.
“If the amount equivalent to that proposed for bullet trains is used for executing the long-pending railway projects, the benefits for the general public will be more,” the Committee said in a report tabled in Parliament.
Bullet train projects are highly capital intensive and require substantial support from the Centre for their implementation, it noted. Incidentally, the Railways have 368 ongoing or pending projects, valued at about ₹4 lakh crore.
The Committee, headed by former Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, said it is not convinced by the Railways’ rationale for taking up this “financially unviable” project.
“The Ministry has justified this project even though it is financially unviable, stating that as compared to other big railway projects, bullet train projects contribute to improved economic rate of return in terms of value of time saved of passengers, environmental benefits, appreciation in real estate value and residual value of infrastructure, besides enhancing the country's prestige internationally,” it said.
Lauds proposal Nevertheless, it lauded the proposal to introduce a high-speed train on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector. While Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is studying this particular high-speed corridor, the Chinese are helping the Railways study the Mumbai-Chennai route.
The proposed Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor is expected to cost about ₹70,000 crore, according to the latest interim estimates given by JICA. Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd has also said the proposed train will not be priced only for premium passengers, as is the case in Japan and Europe, but have differential pricing for various segments.
Meanwhile, on Friday, Railway Board Chairman Arunendra Kumar said it takes 10 years to build a high-speed rail system, starting from the time the foundation stone is laid. India is in a project preparation phase now and is considering the feasibility options for the project, he added.
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