WHEELS OF BIG CHANGE

Momentous change touches transport networks-arteries of a country's socio-economic life-early. With the world moving towards cleaner energy, electric vehicles present a green alternative. Similarly, Intelligent Transport Systems, laden with digital sensors, will alter the experience of safe travel through real-time data. India will also soon join a select club of countries with high-speed trains. On the road to 2047, some of us would take an EV on a smart highway. Others will board the fastest train in Hindustan. But through all this, balance must be struck between technology and its affordability

- ANILESH S. MAHAJAN

TRAVEL AT BULLET SPEED 

INDIA'S HIGH-SPEED RAIL NETWORK PROJECT WILL HELP IT CROSS THE NEXT FRONTIER IN TRANSPORT AND SUPERCHARGE THE ECONOMY

Imagine traversing the 500 km distance between Mumbai and Ahmedabad in just two hours by rail. For decades, having such trains had been no more than a distant dream for India. It was in the mid-1980s that the then-railway minister, Madhavrao Scinidia, had first proposed a high-speed rail line between Delhi and Kanpur, only to be told that it was financially unviable. Nearly 40 years later today, India stands almost on the cusp of realising that dream. In mid-2027, the country is expected to run trials of its first high-speed train on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor. It will have a peak speed of 320 kmph, twice that of the Vande Bharat's 160 kmph, the fastest train India has currently. A number of other corridors are in the offing that will together create an advanced high-speed rail (HSR) network across the country.

WHY IT IS A GAME CHANGER

High-speed trains will transform mobility in India. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad project is being backed by Japan, which will fund 80 per cent of the cost through a soft loan of Rs 79,000 crore and provide India with its Shinkansen technology. India's National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRC), set up by the Centre in 2016, has already acquired the land for the project and has started laying the tracks as well. With HSRS, the total number of routes covered under a high-speed network, including the 25 routes already covered by the semi-high-speed Vande Bharat trains, may touch 400.