India is ready for bullet trains, and it has been ready for many years

The signing of the bullet train agreement between India and Japan has generated rancorous debate in the media and on social media. The question being asked most is: Does India need a bullet train or, is India even ready for one?

According to the agreement, Japan will provide $12 billion to build India’s first bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The highly concessional loan, at an interest rate of 0.1 percent, to be repaid over 50 years, will have a moratorium for 15 years. Meanwhile, China is conducting feasibility studies for a high-speed link between New Delhi and Chennai. China has offered a long-term loan too, but not as cheaply as Japan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has long been a champion of bullet trains for India. Announcing the agreement in front of Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe, a visibly pleased Modi said, “This enterprise will launch a revolution in Indian railways and speed up India’s journey into the future. It will become an engine of economic transformation in India.”

However, like anything that Prime Minister Modi is personally involved in, this has given his detractors another reason to flog his policies. Social media was flooded with all kinds of expert comments: India does not need bullet trains; and bullet trains are only for the rich. One argument claims that this is being done to satisfy one man’s enormous ego. So, once more, battle-lines seem drawn according to whether one likes or does not like Modi. There’s no middle ground here.

Interestingly, both sides put out figures, unveil statistics, and make strong arguments on whether bullet trains are needed or not. Some sceptics, who have probably done more homework than the others who blindly oppose it just because it is Modi’s project, say that the money is better spent developing existing railway infrastructure. It makes more sense to improve railway tracks to enable trains to run faster, rather than spend money on a few trains that go very fast. They are probably right.

But bullet train advocates also have valid views. For instance, the cost of a kilometre of bullet train track is less than that of a metro. Not exactly an orange-to-orange comparison, but you see the point. Anything new or daring is opposed by some lobby or the other. Over the years, everything has been criticised for being wasteful expenditure; from the Indian space programme to the Konkan Railway and the Delhi Metro. Even after demonstrated success, these are still criticised, but see what a difference they made. Every time a cyclone hits the east coast, early warnings from our satellites save thousands of lives. The Konkan Railway has become the lifeline of the west coast, ferrying thousands of people and tens of thousands of tonnes of goods every day.

Most people who blindly criticise the bullet train seem unaware of how it works. In Japan, the oldest and most famous bullet train line runs from Tokyo to Osaka. The trains on this line run at around 250 to 300 kmph and cover a 400 km distance in less than two hours. Since they travel from city centre to city centre, it eliminates the need for long taxi journeys to airports and long waiting periods for check-in, security, and boarding. Very importantly, you don’t need to book tickets for the trains. You just show up at the railway station, a train leaves every few minutes.

At peak hour, the Tokyo-Osaka line has a train leaving every three minutes. The line carries up to 23,000 passengers every hour. Think about that.

Thus, multiple trains run on multiple tracks. They take thousands of people from one place to another; quicker than airplanes, with safety and in comfort. The technology involved in keeping this complex system running fast and running safe is the best there is in the world. Only the very foolish will say that there won’t be a spillover effect on the rest of our railways.

Sometimes, grand projects such as these are not necessarily only about viability, though that should be a primary concern. Designing and executing such complex large projects boosts national confidence and pride. Like the Konkan Railway or the Delhi Metro, for instance. They both changed the way India looks at major public projects from the point of view of timelines, efficiency of operations, cleanliness, or even managing construction on difficult terrain or conditions. Neither, probably, has yet seen profit. But quick profit is not the aim of public transport projects.

People in Bangalore spend more time commuting from their home to the office than it will take to travel from Mumbai to Ahmedabad on a bullet train. In the 1970s, a train journey from Bangalore to Delhi took three days. When the Karnataka-Kerala Express and Tamil Nadu Express trains were introduced, the journey reduced to 36 hours. Most people couldn’t believe it. Sadly, things haven’t got either faster or safer since then. And that needs to change.

Is there really a good time for a bullet train? Japan’s first bullet train started running in 1964. The country has added several more lines after that. Several studies show that bullet trains spur business and tourism, create jobs, and build economies, in Japan and elsewhere. India is ready for bullet trains. It has been ready for many years.