High Speed Rail

 

High speed rail (or HSR) is a railway network in which a train can operate at high speeds, typically defined as greater than 200 KMPH or 120 MPH. Tokaido Shinkansen in Japan was first HSR line in the world. It started in 1960s. Ever since then many countries have developed their own HSR networks Some known ones are France's TGV, Germany's ICE, Spain's Renfe and China's CRH. India is currently building it’s own HSR line between Ahmedabad and Mumbai which the help of Japan. It is expected to open in 2028.



The title of the fastest train in the world was achieved by the Chuo Shinkansen on a trail run between Tokyo and Osaka reaching a top speed of 600KMPH!!. The fastest commercially running train currently is the Shanghai maglev in china which runs at 420 KMPH.

 

Now how many think why build HSR when planes are there. There are 3 main reasons-

 

 Travel time

When you are travelling on a short distance let's say Chennai to Bengaluru, winch is around 375KMs, HSR makes more sense than flying, when accounting for things like going to the airport, waiting in the airport etc. But for longer distances like Chennai to Delhi (around 3000KMS), it would make more sense to take the plane than to ride the train. Typically HSR is better when the travel distance is less than 1000-1500KMS.

Travel Experience

 Passenger comfort on HSRs are mostly better than flights, with better seats, more legroom, more space to move around and much better scenery to view. The boarding process is also shorter and easier in HSR compared to flights.

Railway stations typically are much closer to the city center than airport which are typically far away from the city center.

Frequency

In HSR can run multiple trips between 2 cities in a day. For example the shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka runs every 10 minutes! So one can travel at any time they want. On the other hand, flights have less frequency than trains.

So, in general HSR offers a more comfortable, reliable and faster travel experience for not so long distances.

Looking forward to your comments.

Comments

  1. பாஸ்கி27 February 2022 at 09:05

    Good information Guru.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown27 February 2022 at 11:05

    Good analysis guru...can you tell me why hsr is taking more time to be implemented in india

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Magesh28 February 2022 at 05:28

      construction started in 2020 April and was set to open in 2023 December but due to land acquisition problems and the maharashtra government not doing a lot of help the project was post ponded. The section in gujarat will open in 26 with maharashtra section opening in 28

      Delete
  3. K Srinivasan27 February 2022 at 18:51

    Good analysis, Guru. How does the cost of high speed rail compare to flight - both ticket cost and building cost?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Magesh28 February 2022 at 05:41

      airports, which are the main and only cost in flights are way costlier than HSR thew cost of delhi airport is Rs. 128.5 bn ( $2.7 bn ) while mumbai ahmedabad HSR cost, dispite being more than 20 times bigger Rs. 1.1 tr ( $15 bn)

      Delete
  4. Unknown28 February 2022 at 09:27

    Good write up Guru. Waiting for your next post

    ReplyDelete

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