The proposed month and year for the introduction of bullet trains in India was December 2023 for which the Indian Railways and the Government of India are working together with a continuous effort. The first rail corridor under construction for the project was Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail route which will be India’s first bullet train. Inspired by Japanese technology, these high-speed Rail corridors will have special tracks for their frequent operations. Bullet train is a special gift for the passengers who want to slash their journey timings to a large extent. A recent announcement by the Indian Railways states that there’re six more bullet train routes proposed for which the planning and execution will start within a year. It’s the year 2023 when passengers when bullet train passengers will start checking the train schedule or train time table of the bullet trains. Before its perfect planning and execution, let us delve into detail about what a bullet train is and its properties.
What is Bullet Train and what are its properties?
There’re no standard definitions as to what is a bullet train but Railways system across the world had classified bullet trains as any high-speed rail that runs beyond the speed of 250-260 km/hour is a high-speed bullet train. Only 16 nations around the world have bullet trains and special tracks for their smooth operation which facilitates passengers for their daily ride. China blows its own trumpet when it comes to the length of the track. It has a total length of 27,000 Km which is the longest railway network in the world. The high-speed rails of China rank the list followed by Japan, Spain, France and Germany.
Recommended Read: What made Indian Railways into Spotlight in 2019?
Properties of Bullet Train:
It’s 2020 and our nation has started to ponder on the operational effort of bullet trains showcasing the rising effort economic and technical development of India. Bullet train in India from Mumbai to Ahmedabad route will hit the tracks by December 2023. However, here’re some factors one must know about bullet trains present all over the world.
- Which was the World’s first high-speed network?
In 1964, Japan was the first country to launch fastest a bullet train in the world which was the famous Shinkansen bullet train which ran at a speed of 210 kmph. Later, the Florence-Rome line came into the list with a top speed of 250 kmph. The French rail company started its first full high-speed line, between Paris and Lyons, on September 27, 1981. It ran with a speed of 260kmph. - Can High-Speed rails run over the conventional tracks?
Yes! Most of the high-speed railways run on the conventional tracks which are similar to conventional gauge systems. The trains will have synchronized power cars (engines) they receive power from roof-mounted pantographs and overhead electric supply lines. The same model is to be installed for the bullet train project for India. - What is the Maglev train?
Based on the technical aspects of magnetic levitation, Maglev trains run on the technology of Electromagnet science. Through this technicality, the train runs short distance just above the tracks. Maglev has superior controls as its acceleration and braking doesn’t depend on the friction of the track. The construction of this train is very expensive. These trains are present only in three countries which are famous as a technical giant of the world. They’re Japan, China and South Korea. Shanghai Maglev has the highest run speed of 431kmph covering a 30.5 km distance in 7mins 20secs. - The Global infrastructure of the high-speed Rail Network
The total length of high-speed rail lines across the world is about 43,000km. China has 65% of this network and the contribution accounts of over 60% of global high-speed passenger traffic. Over the years, Japan has escalated its technical perimeter and developed ML-500R Maglev which has a speed of more than 500 kmph and in 2015 the Japanese LO Maglev hit a record of 603 Kmph.
Recommended Read:Train 18: The Fastest and Self-Propelled Train of Indian Railways
New Routes for Bullet Train
Indian Railways have identified six new corridors for the construction of bullet trains. Apart from the prepossessed Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail route there’re six routes proposed.
- Delhi-Noida-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi (865 km)
- Delhi-Jaipur-Udaipur-Ahmedabad (886km)
- Mumbai-Nashik-Nagpur (753 km)
- Mumbai-Pune-Hyderabad (711 km)
- Chennai-Bangalore-Mysore (435 km)
- Delhi-Chandigarh-Ludhiana-Jalandhar-Amritsar (459 km)
Bullet Train Route and its Top Speed:
Bullet trains running on these routes will run with a maximum speed of over 300 km/hr on a high-speed corridor and for semi-speed corridor the maximum speed limit will be 160 Km/hour.
“We have identified these six corridors and their detailed project reports (DPR) will be prepared within the year. The DPR will study the feasibility of these routes which includes land availability, alignment and a study of the traffic potential there. After these things are studied, we will decide if they will be high-speed or semi-high speed corridors,” said Yadav
Also in his speech, Mr. Yadav stated:
“We need 1,380 hectare of land for the project. 1,005 hectare was private land of which we have acquired 471 hectares. 149 hectares was state government land of which we have got 119 hectare. The remaining is 128 hectare which is railway land which has been given to the high-speed corporation”
The Detailed Project Report (DPR) of this project will be ready with the execution plan within a year. Soon India will have high-speed bullet trains running over various routes completing with China and Japan.