The plan to introduce bullet trains in India moved several steps ahead when Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi met visiting Japan Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and expressed his willingness to introduce the world-class Japanese transport system in the country.
“I met the Japanese Prime Minister and told him that with Indo-Japan cooperation, we can build the world-class transport system in India,” Trivedi told The Indian Express. “I have seen their presentation and what has impressed me is their safety aspects.”
A section of the Japanese delegation will meet senior Railway Ministry officials and further pitch for the trains which run upwards of 300 km per hour on dedicated tracks. The Japanese team has highlighted the fact that in the 47 years of its existence the bullet train system — Shinkansen — has not recorded any accident.
It is learnt that Trivedi has been particularly impressed with the fact that during the devastating earthquake and tsunami, which ravaged Japan in March this year, the bullet trains suffered no casualties as their in-built anti-quake brakes came to the timely rescue.
With the high-level Japanese delegation in the country, officials said the chances of a formal commitment have risen significantly.
Countries like Germany and China have also been wooing the Indian Railways to get a toehold in the project. What tilts the balance in Japan’s favour is that bullet train technology used by the Chinese for the Beijing-Shanghai line was also partly supplied by the Shinkansen.
Japan will now hold a conference on its bullet trains in January aimed at Indian Railways officials.
The Railways has paved the way for the trains on paper. Six corridors — Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar; Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad; Hyderabad-Chennai; Howrah-Haldia; Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam-Trivandrum; and Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna — have already been proposed for the ambitious project.
Toshihiro Yamakoshi, director in the office of project development (Railway Bureau) in Japan’s transport ministry, told The Indian Express in Tokyo that Japan would be offering the “latest necessary technology” for the six corridors that India is planning to develop, spanning over 3,800 km.
According to an estimate, it will cost about Rs 100 crore to construct a one km dedicated high speed corridor. As per the preliminary report, ridership revenues would be able to cover the operating cost of the project.
“I met the Japanese Prime Minister and told him that with Indo-Japan cooperation, we can build the world-class transport system in India,” Trivedi told The Indian Express. “I have seen their presentation and what has impressed me is their safety aspects.”
A section of the Japanese delegation will meet senior Railway Ministry officials and further pitch for the trains which run upwards of 300 km per hour on dedicated tracks. The Japanese team has highlighted the fact that in the 47 years of its existence the bullet train system — Shinkansen — has not recorded any accident.
It is learnt that Trivedi has been particularly impressed with the fact that during the devastating earthquake and tsunami, which ravaged Japan in March this year, the bullet trains suffered no casualties as their in-built anti-quake brakes came to the timely rescue.
With the high-level Japanese delegation in the country, officials said the chances of a formal commitment have risen significantly.
Countries like Germany and China have also been wooing the Indian Railways to get a toehold in the project. What tilts the balance in Japan’s favour is that bullet train technology used by the Chinese for the Beijing-Shanghai line was also partly supplied by the Shinkansen.
Japan will now hold a conference on its bullet trains in January aimed at Indian Railways officials.
The Railways has paved the way for the trains on paper. Six corridors — Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar; Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad; Hyderabad-Chennai; Howrah-Haldia; Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam-Trivandrum; and Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna — have already been proposed for the ambitious project.
Toshihiro Yamakoshi, director in the office of project development (Railway Bureau) in Japan’s transport ministry, told The Indian Express in Tokyo that Japan would be offering the “latest necessary technology” for the six corridors that India is planning to develop, spanning over 3,800 km.
According to an estimate, it will cost about Rs 100 crore to construct a one km dedicated high speed corridor. As per the preliminary report, ridership revenues would be able to cover the operating cost of the project.
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