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Showing posts with label Shinkansen bullet train. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shinkansen bullet train. Show all posts

Sunday, 21 August 2016

08:56

Railways to send 400 Officers to Japan to train in Bullet Train tech

Railways to send 400 Officers to Japan to train in Bullet Train tech

New Delhi: With country’s first bullet train project scheduled for commissioning in 2023, Indian Railways plans to send 400 of its employees to Japan for training in engineering, operational and safety aspects related to the project.
These officials from various railway zones having expertise in different areas will be trained at the expense of Japanese government. The first section of the bullet train between Mumbai-Ahemdabad is being constructed in collaboration with Japan, which has offered an assistance of over Rs 79,000 crores for a period of 50 years.

“It is a completely new technology and we need to train our officials in various aspects so that we have manpower having knowledge of its process and engineering,” said a railway ministry official, adding this will be the highest number of officers being send by railways overseas for training.

Railway is expected to close loan negotiations with Japan by end of this year and work is expected to begin in 2018 to ensure its commissioning in time by 2023. The total cost of the project has been pegged at Rs 97,636 crores and to be implemented in a period of seven years.

“There are lot of work that needs to be done like we have to develop our own standards for high speed rail network and those needs to be vetted. We should also have a regulatory framework for the whole system. These are being jointly worked upon,” the official added.

It has been agreed upon to adopt Shinkansen Technology for Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR Project. The cooperation of Japan on this project will also be fixed on transfer of technology and ‘Make in India’.

Railway has formed a National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), a special purpose vehicle (SPV), with a paid-up capital of Rs 500 crore for the project. Railways has already allotted Rs 200 crore for the SPV and Maharashtra and Gujarat will have equity of 25 percent each, while the Railways will have 50 per cent in the SPV.

A final feasibility report by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) suggested that fare of the bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad may be somewhere around one and half times more than the fare of the first AC of Rajdhani Express and it would be around Rs 2,800.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in parliament had said that the fare of Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail network will be affordable to people and less than the airfare between the two cities.
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Tuesday, 13 October 2015

12:30

Japanese firms step up Multi-Dimensional approach in India’s HSR Plans & Output

Japanese firms step up Multi-Dimensional approach in India’s HSR Plans & Output

Indian and Japan Government teams are working for past 5 to 6 years towards implementing this Superfast Shinkansen trains in India to provide extremely efficient time and energy saving along with security and safety for passengers.

Many Japanese firms who are notable for Super-fast trains in Japan; have started bidding for this project funding and also have started approaching the Japanese agencies in identifying to sell their equipment’s or services for India bullet train plan. Not only the firms that are pitching for this project; along with this project there is industrial corridor planned in which zones are expected to be developed. In other words multi-dimensional output is expected along with bullet train corridor.

The actual construction work for first ever bullet train line in India is expected to begin in 2017, and expected completion in 2023 and made operational by 2024. The Japan International Cooperation Agency recently submitted the final study report on the feasibility study of the proposed high-speed rail system on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route to the Indian Railways minister, estimating the ambitious project would cost Rs 988,050 million. Japanese government has offered to fund the project at a low interest rate. However, the loan offer comes with the rider that 30 per cent materials for the project would be sourced from Japanese firms.

High Speed Rail network is one of the show piece of any developed country, and it is also considered as mandatory for accelerating growth and sustaining the economy at a speed. The Japan bullet train [Shinkansen]; a super-fast, modern, clean and safe way to travel has been transporting users for over 50 years at an average speed of over 200 mph in Japan. It has become an icon of Japanese culture and a means of transport for millions of people every year. It is nothing but pure engineering beauty.

About 800 Bullet trains per day, are in service. The reliability of Japanese train is such that According to many research reports, the Shinkansen’s average delay from schedule per train is 36 seconds, including delays due to uncontrollable causes, such as natural disasters. With an impressive safety record of 50 years running history, carrying nearly 10 billion passengers, there have been no passenger fatalities despite frequent and heavy earthquakes and typhoons.

While technically every aspect of modernizing the transportation is appreciable by everyone; the cost factor seems to be not welcomed by everyone. Even in Japan; shinkansen ticket pricing is considered as every expensive travel mode if considered to travel less than 2 hours route. There are low cost carriers both train and flight which is far lesser than shinkansen pricing. The Bullet trains either be run on the long distance, medium distance routes, the fact is it will be more expensive than Normal trains or other transportation modes.

There is a view to the consumer cost that is cost of implementing this train line and the impact to the economy. UCLA`s economic analysis of Japan’s Shinkansen bullet train and its impact on the growth of cities raised a question in the report mentioning Construction of Japan’s bullet train did not generate higher economic growth or additional jobs, according to the study.

In comparison with China often it is told that china in way had made its way to achieve the bullet train capability by implementing on its own and implementing bullet train has brought china a new industrial image, while India is nowhere less then implementing on its own when it comes to these hi-fi technologies; the other nations are also in competition to provide technologies to India. China is also one of the country currently conducting feasibility study for a high speed railway in the over 2000 km long New Delhi-Chennai corridor, while Japan is doing the same for Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor.

Whereas India has lots of challenges to overcome in implementing superfast bullet train line; not limited to fencing, passenger pricing and or building entirely new terrain tracks. Many engineers in India who work in the old train lines consider that spending crores of rupees on the bullet train project is an unnecessary expense. Many of these think that this money would be better spent on improving the trains that they already have and expanding the number of train lines.

The good news is most people in India do agree with these new super-fast trains because of all the conveniences they bring and eagerly are waiting for Bullet train riding. India is a fast growing economy and getting from point A to point B needs to become faster and companies need to trust that their employees will get to where they need to be on time and that’s where the Shinkansen trains are best. Despite the challenges that the firms may face; one fact is that it certainly improves in providing job along the corridor as many firms are expected to pop up.

Writer Profile: Junko Nirmala is a Tokyo resident with 16 years of experience in technology and business consulting services mainly focusing on India-Japan Market and cross border related services. Writer can be reached at junkonirmala@gmail.com. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his/her private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of any publishing media.
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Friday, 6 March 2015

17:35

India may finalise Japan’s Shinkansen Bullet Train owing to impeccable Safety Record

India may finalise Japan’s Shinkansen Bullet Train owing to impeccable Safety Record

New Delhi: Japan’s shinkansen bullet train technology is the leading candidate for a planned 500km railway linking the western city of Mumbai and the state of Gujarat to the north, the first step in India’s extensive high-speed rail project.

The Indian and Japanese governments initiated a joint feasibility study in late 2013, and a final report is to be released in July 2015.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency, which is participating in the study, told participants at a Feb. 28 high-speed rail seminar in New Delhi that the report will likely recommend that Japan’s bullet train technology is the most appropriate option.

A top official in India’s Ministry of Railways told that Japan’s technology is the world’s best and that India hopes to work on this project with Japan.

The Japanese contingent at the seminar included Issei Kitagawa, state vice-minister of transport; Yuji Fukasawa, Executive Vice President at East Japan Railway, which hopes to win orders for the project as part of a consortium of Japanese companies; Tadaharu Ohashi, a counselor at Kawasaki Heavy Industries; and top Hitachi officials.

With construction likely to start as early as 2017, India and Japan will quickly work out the necessary details, such as fundraising, as soon as the study is complete. Plans include combining official development assistance from JICA with an infrastructure fund set up by Japan’s transport ministry.

What Modi wants

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been working to revive manufacturing with the “Make in India” initiative, will probably require that rolling stock be built locally. How much Japanese companies will cede to India’s demands will be a point of interest.

The railway linking Mumbai and Ahmedabad will cost 700-800 billion rupees ($11.3 billion to $12.9 billion), including 12 stations to be built along the route, the Indian government said. The train will have a top speed of 320kph, slashing travel time to around two and a half hours from about eight hours now.

India plans to build nine railways linking the major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, which has been dubbed the Diamond Quadrilateral project.

Since the Mumbai-Ahmedabad railway requires tunneling beneath a river, India favors Japanese drilling technology, which was used in such projects as the Seikan Tunnel linking Japan’s main island with the northern island of Hokkaido. India also focused on Japan’s safety record, with no passenger deaths in 50 years of operation, and know-how allowing trains to run at intervals of several minutes.

France, Spain and China also have shown interest in India’s high-speed rail plans, and competition over the other routes will likely remain fierce.
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