India likely to get its first bullet train by 2022: Arunendra Kumar, Railway Board Chairman

India likely to get its first bullet train by 2022: Arunendra Kumar, Railway Board Chairman 

Railway Board chairman Arunendra Kumar says India should get its first bullet train in 2022. In a freewheeling chat with ET Magazine two days after the Rail Budget mentioned India's bullet train dreams, Kumar was confident that the resources would be mobilized. Excerpts: 

On the bullet train plan 

The speed of Indian trains has remained stagnant since the 80s. We thought about increasing the speed in the past, but the sixth pay commission's burden had shifted our focus to freight (a dedicated freight corridor is being built). 

But the world has moved on. Even countries such as Taiwan, Vietnam, Monaco and Tunisia are at various stages of developing a high-speed rail network. For us, there will now be two sets of trains. One is a semi high-speed system [160-190 kmph] that will happen soon. By end of this calendar year, we will have a train running between Delhi and Agra at 160 km per hour. 

We will merely tweak the system and our investments for the Delhi-Agra corridor will be less than Rs 10 crore. Then, we have envisioned the High Speed Rail System, which is a slightly longer term vision. The Rail Budget has already given the seed money of Rs 100 crore for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor, and we should complete the project in eight years. 

On the arguably high project cost of Rs 60,000 crore

Let me tell our critics that an ongoing railway project, the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC), will cost Rs 80,000 crore. Of this, Indian Railways has given a commitment for Rs 27,000 crore. Compared to the DFC, bullet train is a cheaper project. And remember we don't need to give a single cheque of Rs 60,000 crore at one time.

Various modalities for private sector participation will be weighed in. Multilateral agencies are also showing interest in the project. When India had its first coloured TV sets, there were sceptics. When mobile phones came, many asked their utility. Bullet train is no different 

On possible bidders

The competition will be among companies from France, Japan, China and Germany 

Source:Economic Times