Whoever has heard of a Shinkansen which stops at every station in a metro line? If it does, it cannot be a Shinikansen, is it not? A Shinkansen or a ‘Bullet Train’ is supposed to offer a high-speed rail connectivity between cities, not serve as a transit system within a city. A Shinkansen is a ‘inter-city’ rail connection and not a ‘inner-city’ rail network.
If we do not understand the purpose and service orientation of a high speed inter-city rail connection, we should never try and operate one. But back home in India, we are least bothered about such clarity of purpose. Every city wants a fast non-stop rail connectivity, but wants every fast non-stop trains between other cities which pass through, to stop at their station
It does not matter what the train is, or which part of the country it serves. If a fast, non-stop train runs through my city, it has to stop to pick me up, at my city. I don’t want to travel 50 or 100 km to the origin city to jump on the fast, non-stop train. The train has to stop at/for my convenience.
Thus:
Under such circumstances, keeping in view that construction of a
one would think that the GoI would plan on building Highways.
Mind you, the rail option would also require additional investment in rolling stock and more running expenses by way of fuel and manpower. In case of road option, all those - cars, buses, fuel, manpower - are on the heads of the users, and not public (govt) investment.
*Note: The Praja CRS Plan referred for rail construction cost estimates Rs. 150 mn @ 2007 prices; allowing for inflation of 7% as per Business-Standard article referred for road construction, I arrived at ~210 mn in 2011.
And that the GoI would aim to keep existing and planned highways as Highways -
8-0
I can just hear Dastardly and Muttley snickering around somewhere.
My Thoughtful half thinks aloud, ‘BTW what would be the total time lost if a Train travelling at an average speed of 100 km/hr is made to stop at a station in between for 2 minutes? For eg., the case of Lucknow-New Delhi Shatabdi Express, made to stop at Tundla!’
Hell, looks like it will need a lot of research and information, like weight of train, its weight when fully loaded, the capacity of its engines, acceleration and braking capacity and what not. Not for today!
If we do not understand the purpose and service orientation of a high speed inter-city rail connection, we should never try and operate one. But back home in India, we are least bothered about such clarity of purpose. Every city wants a fast non-stop rail connectivity, but wants every fast non-stop trains between other cities which pass through, to stop at their station
It does not matter what the train is, or which part of the country it serves. If a fast, non-stop train runs through my city, it has to stop to pick me up, at my city. I don’t want to travel 50 or 100 km to the origin city to jump on the fast, non-stop train. The train has to stop at/for my convenience.
Thus:
- In the West, people grouse that Chandigarh-Amritsar Duronto Express will not stop at Ludhiana. (Distances: Chandigarh to Amritsar ~230 km; Chandigarh to Ludhiana ~ 95 km)
- In the North, Indian Railways agrees that the Lucknow-New Delhi Shatabdi Express will stop at Tundla, in addition to existing Aligarh & Etawah stations. (Distances: Tundla to Aligarh ~96 km; Tundla to Etawah ~100 km; Lucknow to New Delhi ~475 km)
- In the South, they agree that Trivandrum-Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express will also stop at Quilon and Alleppey, in addition to Cochin (Ernakulam) station. (Distances: Quilon to Trivandrum ~65km; Alleppey to Cochin ~60 km; Trivandrum to Nizamuddin ~2,800 km)
- In the East, people agitate demanding Guwahati-Delhi/Chennai Express trains also stop at Sarupathar, in addition to Furkating and/or Dimapur stations. (Distances: Sarupathar to Furkating ~34 km; Sarupathar to Dimapur ~36 km; Guwahati to Delhi ~1957 km; Guwahati to Chennai ~2745 km)
Under such circumstances, keeping in view that construction of a
- 4-lane highway capable of smooth, fast road traffic would be cheaper -
- estimated at Rs. 10 Crores (100 mn) per km [http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/nhai-plancom-differcost4-lane-highways/404095/] ;
- than a railway line to inter-connect these cities -
- estimated at Rs. 21 Crores [210 mn] per km* [http://praja.in/en/book/export/html/571])
one would think that the GoI would plan on building Highways.
Mind you, the rail option would also require additional investment in rolling stock and more running expenses by way of fuel and manpower. In case of road option, all those - cars, buses, fuel, manpower - are on the heads of the users, and not public (govt) investment.
*Note: The Praja CRS Plan referred for rail construction cost estimates Rs. 150 mn @ 2007 prices; allowing for inflation of 7% as per Business-Standard article referred for road construction, I arrived at ~210 mn in 2011.
And that the GoI would aim to keep existing and planned highways as Highways -
- where people commute between cities or towns, as a fast clip and
- not allow those highways to turn into another arterial road, congested with pedestrian and leisure traffic.
8-0
I can just hear Dastardly and Muttley snickering around somewhere.
My Thoughtful half thinks aloud, ‘BTW what would be the total time lost if a Train travelling at an average speed of 100 km/hr is made to stop at a station in between for 2 minutes? For eg., the case of Lucknow-New Delhi Shatabdi Express, made to stop at Tundla!’
Hell, looks like it will need a lot of research and information, like weight of train, its weight when fully loaded, the capacity of its engines, acceleration and braking capacity and what not. Not for today!
The Odiogo podcast is very good. I just tested it out on this post. The TTS engine is excellent.
ReplyDeleteBut it also tells me my mistakes. Number 1 is that I should use punctuations to end the 'bulleted lists'. Else as it stands now, the TTS engine continues with the next line as if it is the same sentence.
Good job Odiogo!
Great article. The podcast works extremely well. Will be interesting to see if it reads the new rupee symbol correctly. May be the other net abbreviations can be tested as well. It does read "BTW" correct. :) Nice find with the podcast plugin.
ReplyDelete