Minister’s `high-speed’ fantasy to cost Railways Rs 1,50,000 cr

“A high-speed train will require a special dedicated track where other trains will not be allowed to run. The cost of laying such a track would be around Rs 100 crore per km, coming to about Rs 1,50,000 crore. This is just for the tracks. Special modern signalling — Cab control system — will be required where the driver can see the signals in the panel in front of him. The train will be so fast that the track-side signals will not be visible,” explained an official. Massive investment would also have to be made in special coaches and locomotives.

And that is not all. The track will have to be fenced on both the sides to make it inaccessible to animals and others. “The train’s speed would be so high that there is no scope for anybody to cross over the tracks. And where it will pass through villages and towns, the track would have to be elevated. Moreover, it has to be a straight track with no sharp curves and turns. A fast train cannot take those,” he said, adding that there cannot be any level crossing on the entire track either.

Most railway officials think that such huge amount of money is better spent on safety and modernisation of the existing infrastructure. The Railway Safety Review Committee which gave its report in August last year had said that Rs 15,000 crore was required to improve safety. It was to be spent on track renewal, rolling stock and modernisation of signalling system. But railway ministers tended to ignore the recommendation, citing cash crunch as the reason.

“We are running our premier trains at a slower speed only because of poor condition and maintenance of track and rolling stock. When we cannot even run Rajdhanis and Shatabdis at 130 km per hour, we should not even dream of a high-speed train running at 350 km per hour. It is just not feasible,” another official said.

And even if the conditions were made conducive, the Railways was in no position financially to start and then maintain the system required for a high-speed train. “Even if the Japanese give us the money, we will have to return it. We are facing serious problems in making Delhi metro at the cost of Rs 5,000 crore, can we afford a single train at 30 times the cost. And who would travel by this train. Whoever wants to, can fly and reach there faster by paying less. Even if it is possible, is it worth it?” he said.