Topic Reading-Vol.3619-3/9/2022
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〒180-0006 東京都武蔵野市中町2-3-5 IIHA武蔵野1階
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Topic Reading-Vol.3619-3/9/2022
0422-27-5366
〒180-0006 東京都武蔵野市中町2-3-5 IIHA武蔵野1階
電話受付/月〜金 9:00-18:00
Topic Reading-Vol.3619-3/9/2022
Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Slow progress for India’s high-speed rail revolution
India’s first railways opened in 1853 in then-Bombay, now-Mumbai. Today, the Indian Railways is operating 19,000 trains daily with 76,000 passenger coaches and three million freight wagons by 1.4 million staff. In 2020, the railway network carried over eight billion passengers and 1.2 billion tons of freight. However, the average speed of long-distance express trains is just around 50 kilometers per hour. Can’t they run faster? Physically yes but operationally no. Since the maximum speed of freight trains ranges between 55 and 75 kilometers per hour, there are always congestions on the rails. The government has been trying to upgrade the train network to accommodate increasing needs for passenger travels and freights by building high-speed railway lines and adding dedicated freight corridors. However, the world’s largest democratic country is always slow to move. There already are approved plans, some of which are supposedly near completion by now but none of these have shown good progress. In the meantime, the railway giant had to double the staff wages recently. Also, their pension costs account for over 70% of operating expenses. A former railway minister mentioned that India Railways is expected to earn like a commercial enterprise but serve like a welfare organization. Indeed, they have difficulty raising cheap passenger fares because of political pressures.
Will they run like a 21st-century transportation company?
Enjoy reading the article and learn about India’s proud railway operation and ambition.
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/india-high-speed-rail-cmd/index.html
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