Lalu not opposed to high-speed trains; asks Centre to finance

New Delhi, Oct 9 (UNI) Railway Minister Lalu Prasad is not averse to the idea of high speed trains cruising at a speed of 250-300 km per hour on some sectors, but the government should be ready to bear the expenses for its infrastructure.

''Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has suggested that speed of some passenger trains should be increased. But running a Bullet Train in India will encounter a series of logistical and financial problems,'' he said.

Giving the inaugural address at a conference on ''Reforms in Indian Railways: Leading Change and Transformation and Emerging Opportunities for Public Private Partnership (PPP),''the minister said if the Centre was willing to finance the project, the Railways could think in terms of running high speed trains on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai, Mumbai-Chennai and Delhi-Mumbai sectors.

He, however, made it abundantly clear that such projets would have to overcome not only financial but also logistical constraints.

The Planning Commission and the Railway Ministry have already rejected the idea of Bullet trains in India saying these were not feasible at present.

For manufacturing one coach of a Bullet train, Rs 13 crore is needed, while for the existing Indian superfast trains, the cost is only Rs two crore.

''For high-speed trains, the entire route has to be fenced.

Indian trains have to move on tracks, which criss-cross and don not run straight. This is going to be a major challenge.'' Also, the operation of a train, moving at a speed of over 300 km per hour, has to be fully mechanised and computerised. ''In western countries, high-speed trains are fitted with noise control devices.

Otherwise, these would be hauled up in courts,'' said Mr Prasad, who recently visited some European countries to learn about the railway systems there.

The minister said he would soon be visiting China to learn the functioning of trains, which operate on the magnetic cushion.

''Speed of trains can be increased but the Centre should be ready to open its purse strings for it. A miserly attitude will not help,'' he added.

In this connection, he pointed out that the Shatabdi train, running between Delhi and Agra, had achieved speed of 140 km, the maximum for any train so far in the country.

UNI/SKS VD HT1510/HS1551