Posted on 09/15/2017 5:49:12 AM PDT by entropy12
Ahmedabad (India) (AFP) - Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday inaugurated India's first bullet train project -- a $19 billion line in the home state of Indian leader Narendra Modi.
The initiative is a major step toward reviving India's accident-prone delapidated rail network but is also seen as emblematic of fast warming relations between New Delhi and Tokyo. Both want to combat China's growing influence.
The line, using Japanese trains and technology, will link Ahmedabad to India's financial capital Mumbai and is scheduled for completion by the end of 2023.
The 500 kilometre (310 mile) journey will be cut from eight hours now to just over two hours when services start.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Since this train will serve Mumbai, it will serve as a supplement to aircraft service between the two cities. However, it is still pork, because it’s serving PM Modi’s home state of Gujarat, rather than providing service between Mumbai and Pune, or Mumbai and Hyderabad, either of which would probably see higher usage.
It will have to slow down with a hundred people riding on top.
California should have just hired Japanese companies to build a bullet train for part of the West Coast, following existing RR lines.
It would have been much, much cheaper, than the 60-70 billion “train to nowhere” high speed rail project; and would likely be in operation
by now.
Problem with that is how would the local Democrats get their fair share? It is not a train they really want, but a money laundering operation. Silly goose!
LOL! ONLY a hundred? You’re dreaming.
I’m just waiting to see images of that thing covered with hundreds of people and accelerating, and then they start peeling off in groups and bunches....
I can’t wait to see how many people can make it to the bullet train destination riding on top of it. Maybe a few dozen will be left?
I really do sympathize with pork project aspect of all of the bullet trains....Our country has knack of destroying potential transportation improvements
However; in my business travels, I have ridden in the Chinese and Japanese bullet trains. Both are very different, but superb in terms of comfort (big seats, smooth and quiet), service (food, walk around ability), speed (to short 100-300 mile range trips), accessibility (walk on, walk off in minutes versus how our airports operations) and the scenery (big windows). In particular, the seats and comforts, etc. beat any US airline to a pulp. It may never get off the ground in the US due to opposition by both the conservatives, NIMBY’s and greenies. If it does, then it is likely to be unsuccessful in implementation by limiting speeds to 90 mph versus the 250-300 mph capability, putting stops every 10 miles, caving to the airline industry by requiring maximum seat pitch to 29 inches in order to make it non competitive to their industry etc..
I do struggle with the thought that some good projects die off because of poorly managed, financed projects give it a bad rap...I think that if done properly, most Americans would gladly travel by train once they experience the difference...and this applies only to short to medium trips (100-300 mile range). I could see the airline industry worry for such sections like Houston/Dallas, LA/San Francisco, etc....
Ha ha. I'm envisioning it entering a tunnel.
What to you mean “nowhere”? I can’t wait to get to Bakersfield!
$19 billion. For a country like India where most of the population lives in abject poverty is insane.
I too have traveled on trains throughout the world, Japan, China, Europe and I think they are very overrated.
I thought the Shinkansen in Japan was tired and worn. Ripped carpet, holes in the seat, inedible food cart. But it is fast. The trains in the UK, again worn and very over-crowded also not fast. TGV was kept nice and it is fast by the price was very expensive. The slower trains in France, Germany are beat-up and need replacement. Flights in the EU now are pretty cheap and are cutting into the long distance train’s share of travelers.
Amtrak in the Northeast does a decent job of moving people fast and does compete with the airlines. I also think our overnight trains with sleepers are far superior than anything in Europe. Sleepers, rooms are better on Amtrak, dining car food is better as well. The speed in Northeast trains are good enough and it would be nice if it were faster. Boston to New York is 3 1/2 hours by Amtrak’s Acela but is typically $125 - $200 one way. The regional takes 4 hours and can be had for $49 if booked 2 weeks in advance. Is a half hour less on the train worth $75 to $150? Not to me.
Amtrak stated that to get trains up to 150 mph in just the Northeast would take $150 Billion. This would double the current average speed and make Boston to D.C. doable in 3 hours.
Please check the data before commenting. Amd-mumbai has no seats available despite more than 17 1000-seater trains in each direction + 15 or so 180 seater flights each way. In the vacation and marriage "seasons" more than 500+ 35 seater buses ply each day, charging much more than the higher class railway fares. Plus hundreds of nonscheduled buses which pack in 50 or more passengers. And this is not counting majority of the passengers from Anand, Nadiad, Baroda and Surat ! all of whom will be connected to the bullet train. The Amd-Mumbai stretch of National Highway is the busiest in India, even though huge amounts of sea freight has now shifted to Gujarats ports, decongesting the Mumbai highway.
Mumbai-Pune about 120 km - 75 miles - is easily connected by the new expressway, Mumbai - Hyderabad is too long a distance for too few passengers for the first train. Even Mumbai - Bangalore will come up before Mumbai - Hyderabad. Also note that there is little or no space on the central line in Mumbai for the station.
There are no tunnels on the rail link between the 2 cities this bullet train will operate.
Since I spent my first 20 years of life in India (and now in my 5th decade in the US), and I actually have traveled the route this train will run on, rest assured there will be no people riding on top of the bullet train.
Like I said there is a large variety of trains in India, some run on narrow gauge, others on broad gauge tracks. I have even ridden the Nilgiri toy train which connects the resort town of Ooty (which is high in the mountains for rich folks to stay cool in hot Indian summers) with bigger towns at lower altitudes. It chugs along at speeds slower than I could ride a bike. See photo below..
Then I recall riding a train from New Delhi to Bombay which was fully air-conditioned, which was rare in my days in India, it ran at high speed with very few stops, and no person could have stayed alive on the top of that train. It covered the 715 miles in half a day with 3 or 4 stops.
And then I remember riding trains between smaller towns which ran on narrower gauge tracks and at much slower speeds. That is where typically people can ride on top.
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