Since Minister of Railway Suresh Prabhu’s speech while setting the budget for 2016-17, ‘high-speed’ trains seem to have become something of a catch-phrase. With the recently-concluded trials for the Spanish Talgo coaches, misreporting in the media, mass hysteria and frenzied PR by the Railways itself have led to many believing that India is one confident step closer to that seductive dream of smooth bullet train journeys across the countryside, without a bump, inside an air-conditioned, swank coach with full-frame windows.
But, as all things go, there’s a catch.
A Terrific Exhibition, Indeed
To begin with, Talgo, the Spanish company which manufactures semi high-speed and high-speed coaches only approached the government to put up a showcase. That is to say, they offered to design nine coaches according to the tracks of the Indian railway, ship them to India and demonstrate the possibility of running significantly faster passenger trains – free of cost. They are to be returned post the trials.
Having nothing to lose, the government invited the Spaniards and quite a show they have put up. The deal was if they like what they see, they may choose to buy Talgo’s technology or they decide to Make in India.
Talgo’s main selling point to the rather 3D storyboard they set up for their pitch is that speeds of trains can be increased on Indian tracks without significant track and signalling changes. It’s the perfect sale! Dangling that alluring image of a modern, state-of-the-art rail infrastructure in exchange for little to no work– ah, but it’s easier said than done.
The truth is simple, and the beauty is how everyone knows it: we don’t have the infrastructure to run semi-high speed trains (150-200 kmph) and this showcase doesn’t take us any closer to that goal. The only way the empty Talgo trains with two pilots and empty sandbags for load check and hence, no real casualties in case of damage, made such impressive times on existing infrastructure is because special concessions were made for them to succeed.
For instance, stations en-route the Delhi-Mumbai trial were given specific instructions to padlock the track diversions, in case of a signalling failure in the event it turned out our system could indeed not handle high-speed trains. Additionally, no train was allowed to run on parallel tracks when a Talgo was running through a block section to prevent casualties in the case of a derailment. Several trains were periodically stopped and rescheduled for the duration of each trial; of course, it’ll make good time.
Getting Down to Brass Tracks
While it is fair and even meritorious to commend the Indian Railways for thinking far and ahead, it is false of them to celebrate the success of the Talgo trials with such gusto. In such artificially-simulated conditions, the desired people-pleasing, vote-garnering, image-building results will necessarily be achieved; the idea is never to stop trains, disrupt the lives and schedules of thousands and clear way for one trial – it is simply not a replicable model.
The Indian Railways does not face a demand problem, but it does suffer from thick track congestion. The entire network is clogged with passenger (30 % by volume) and freight (70 % by volume) trains running every five minutes on an average, sharing the same mainline routes, with functional, long-distance dedicated freight corridors being several hurdles away! If an attempt is made to run semi high-speed trains on this existing network, the real consequence will be a domino-like delay of slower trains running on every route the Talgo takes.
The higher the speed differential between trains on the same network – that is the faster some trains run – the sooner they catch up with slower trains (as seen by the intersections in the above graph), which then get tabled till the faster train crosses through – a consequence the Railways can’t afford owing to its super saturated network. Think of the implications: a semi-high-speed train entering the Mumbai suburban network on the Delhi-Mumbai route will need several local trains to be stopped, leading to overcrowding when they do reach the next station. At peak hours, this can be fatal.
Also Read: Mumbai’s Death Wish: A Train Journey With No Return Ticket.
This is not to say that the trials were hacked; these are standard safety protocols while trying all unknown high-speed rolling stock on tracks to be on the safer side. The only point is that maybe some part of the reality of the trials and the narrative of where we stand in actually possessing this technology has gotten washed down in the PR noise made by Talgo, the Indian Railways and equally, the media.
Safety norms dictate that all trains with speeds higher than 160 kmph necessarily run on barricaded tracks – a rather cost-intensive process; in fact, the Gaatiman Express track has still not been completely barricaded. Additionally, all engines pulling these coaches should be fit with ‘cab signalling’ technology to alert pilots of quickly changing signals. This sounds easy but it requires new technology to be fitted on every energy engine, every signal and every track near it; think about it.
What of ‘Make in India’?
There’s another little glitch: Talgo holds the patent to the technology of these aerodynamically-sound tilting coaches; while there are others that have similar tilting technology, Talgo has a ready broad gauge stock. That is if the government decides to go ahead with the project, the process of tendering will become complicated due to the principles laid down by the Central Vigilance Commission which demands the process of fair tendering.
And, what of Tejas, the semi-high speed train Prabhu announced following up on Modi’s campaign, promise to increase speeds of trains? It missed its deadline of 30 June due to ‘aesthetics’ for it is more known for its “toilet engagement” boards than its velocity.
Could the government have been paying more attention to it instead of putting surprising amounts of energy executing this public exhibition in four months? If such speed was shown in say, sanctioning the proposed Mumbai AC local coaches which had their successful trial run on 5 April or even commissioning the ‘Medha’ locals currently stabled at Kurla, we would be making more tangible leaps.
To parade Talgo’s trial run as a giant step towards high-speed rail trains is a slight falsity. In the absence of any conversation of dedicated corridors (DCs) for trains running between 150-200 kmph parallelly with decongesting traffic by removing freight load, the Talgo trials should be seen more wholly: a strategic demonstration of the apparent strengthening international relations and technology and fairly, also a commendable baby step – nothing more, nothing less.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)