Will India finally get a bullet train this year?

First heard of in 2007, it might feature again in Dinesh Trivedi’s Railways budget but whether it will ever be seen remains in doubt. The high speed ‘bullet’ train was first announced by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in 2007 and till date is still at the pre-feasbility study stage. [caption id=“attachment_242947” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“If the high speed railway plan goes through, we could see ‘bullet trains’ in a decade. AFP”]  [/caption] After the announcement in 2007, Railway authorities spoke enthusiastically about the the project and were quoted as saying that nine states had expressed interest in the project and they hoped to win back customers who settled for low cost airlines. The train would travel between 300-350 km per hour and despite high cost would take 2,36,000 cars and 74,000 buses off the roads, they said. The project continued to chug along until Mamata Banerjee returned as Railway Minister and promised us high-speed dedicated passenger corridors and the creation of a National High Speed Rail Authority. According to recent reports, the project will now find mention in Dinesh Trivedi’s speech but the route seems to be a bit suspect. The railway minister, who has shown more inclination to introduce high speed railways than increase passenger fares, is expected to announce the pre-feasibility study of a route that  links Delhi to Jodhpur or could even announce one between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. According to CNN-IBN, the decision to take the project ahead comes against the backdrop of the report submitted by Sam Pitroda recently recommending the modernisation of the railways. The report  says that the project could take at least ten years to complete and will not be possible without private investment. “We will look to explore the public-private partnership wherein we hope to expect an investment in the range of Rs 20,000 crore from them in the next five years,” the railway official said.