Dreams of semi high-speed trains running between major cities could well be within realms of possibility with the Railway Ministry deciding to give a fresh push to the idea.
Delegates from 11 countries and related institutions in India will gather here for a two-day brainstorming session from October 29 to 30, to explore the possibility of running premier trains like Shatabdi, Rajdhani and Duronto Express at speeds in the range of 160 to 200 kilometre per hour (KMPH) without major investment to upgrade infrastructure like tracks, signals and coaches.
Delegates from foreign countries will present 25 separate papers while 13 papers will be presented by the lucknow-based Research Design and Standards Organisation and Indian Railways. Case studies of high-speed networks from Australia and Spain will also be discussed at the event.
Most of the Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express trains run at maximum speed of 120 to 130 KMPH with the average speed being 70 to 80 KMPH. Bhopal Shatabdi is the fastest train on the Indian Railway network which touches the mark of 150 km at a stretch between New Delhi and Agra.
“Globally, trains running at a speed of over 300 KMPH are considered to be high-speed trains and require significant investment to improve tracks and other infrastructure. We are looking at the possibility of running semi high-speed trains which could run at a speed of 160 to 200 KMPH,” Railway Board Chairman Arunendra Kumar said.
“The semi high-speed trains could be a precursor to achieving full scale high speeds of 300 KMPH,” he added. Claiming that the idea was at the very initial level and he would have a clearer picture after the conference, Kumar said such trains were possible between cities covered by trains like Shatabdi and similar premier trains. He identified Delhi-Bhopal, Delhi-lucknow and Delhi-Jaipur as possible stretches where a pilot project could be started once the project takes shape.
“It is not that the train would run at a high speed on the entire stretch. We will do it in a phased manner by identifying particular sections and developing them to run semi high-speed trains. Initially, the pilot project could start with one or two trains on one or two routes,” Kumar said. The CRB claims unless travel time between two destinations, like New Delhi and Mumbai, is reduced by two or three hours, people would not feel the change.
Indian Railways is not setting any deadline for the project to take off, but officials claim they would aim to ensure that semi high-speed trains see the light of day before Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) are complete. The Eastern and Western DFC, a separate corridor to run goods trains, is under construction and is expected to be complete by March 2018.
At present, Indian Railway is conducting feasibility studies for high-speed rail corridors (to run trains at a speed of over 300 KMPH). The study for one such 534 km-long corridor between Mumbai-Ahmedabad has already been completed. The Railway Ministry has approved a study by French Railways to prepare a business model for this high-speed rail link between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.