New Delhi (The Statesman/ANN) - The Indian Railways will set up a joint working group with Japan to carry forward the high speed train proposal, according to the Railway minister, Dinesh Trivedi.
"I am quite impressed by the safety record of high-speed trains in Japan (file photo) as there has been no accident till date. We are forming a joint working group with Japan to carry forward the high-speed train proposal," he said. A Japanese delegation has already met the Railway minister, Trivedi recently had made a presentation about the operation of high speed train in their country.
Japan's high speed trains 'Shinkansen' operate at a speed of up to 300 km per hour and are known for their punctuality, comfort, safety and efficiency.
Officials say if the efforts bear results with the assistance of Japan, a day will be not far off when trains between New Delhi and Mumbai could run at a high speed of 200 km per hour.
The Railways have identified six routes for conducting study for running train at around 300 km per hour speed on elevated track, it has selected Delhi-Mumbai route to operate train at 200 km on the existing track. Japan has conducted a study to run high-speed train in Delhi-Mumbai route. "They have finalised the report and it will be submitted to us shortly," sources said.
Railways have also selected a Japanese consortium to undertake feasibility study for running the train at 300 km per hour speed on the 869 km long Chennai-Bangalore-Thiruvanthapuram route. The Japan Railway Technical Service along with Oriental Consultants have been awarded the contract to conduct the study.
The French firm Systra, which conducted the feasibility study for Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad (650 km) route has already submitted a report, which is being examined by the government.
Similarly, Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro) and along with Parsons Brinkhoff India had bagged the contract to conduct the study on the proposed 664-km-long Hyderabad-Vijaywada-Chennai route for running the high speed train.
The services UK-based consultant Mott McDonald has been engaged to conduct the pre-feasibility study of the longest Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna (991 km) route.
Spanish consultant Eneco has been hired to carry out studies in the shortest Howrah-Haldia (135 km) route. Moreover, the selection of consultants for Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar (450 km) high speed rail corridor will be decided shortly.
In order to expedite the bullet train project, Railways is in the process of constituting the National High Speed Rail Authority on the lines of the National Highways Authority.
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