According to officials, the study conducted by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), besides some studies conducted by the railway ministry, has laid down that the route should be a mix.
The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project (commonly referred by all of us as the bullet train project), having taken care of the financial part on December 12, has now moved onto another important discussion. It revolves around whether to have the entire 508km route between the two cities as an elevated one or to have a mixture of elevated stretches and tracks and stations at ground level, also called 'at grade' in railway engineering lingo.
According to officials, the study conducted by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), besides some studies conducted by the railway ministry, has laid down that the route should be a mix.
However, a group of railway officials is of the view that it is best to have the entire stretch on stilts considering the peculiarities of India. "There are two things in favour of an elevated stretch — the need to acquire land coming down drastically and the fact that it would give the bullet train corridor the required safety," said a top railway official.
According to the official, the need to fence the corridor to keep out all kinds of impediments is paramount in a system where trains on an average will run at speeds of 250 kilometres per hour. "Since the route will be passing through densely populated cities and villages, it is best to have it elevated. Also, the concept of any High Speed Rail is that it brings about residential-commercial development and urbanisation along the route. This will put more pressure on the line in terms of people, vehicles and the line infringing on the corridor," said the official.
The other reason for the corridor to be elevated, said officials, is that the increase in cost, when compared to a ground-level corridor or a mixed one, can be managed, thanks to the soft loan the ministry has got from Japan.
"As per the agreement between India and Japan on December 12, the assistance offered for the project by Japan is Rs79,000 crore at an interest rate of 0.1% (10 basis points) for a period of 50 years. This includes a moratorium on repayment for the first 15 years. So, we should be going for a corridor which is absolutely the best based on Indian commuting peculiarities," said the official.
The cost of the project at current prices is expected to be Rs97,636 crore, according to the agreement signed by the two nations.
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