India-Japan patnership on bullet trains to open gates of safety, speed and service

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japnese counterpart Shinzo Abe will lay the foundation stone of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project on September 14. The project better known as Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train is a visionary project that intends to herald a new era of safety, speed and service. The project is expected to help Indian Railways become an international leader in scale, speed and skill.

Project cost and economics

As a part of the cooperation agreement between India and Japan, Government of Japan will provide a soft loan of about Rs 88,000 crore at an interest rate of 0.1 per cent for the project. Repayment of the loan is to begin after 15 years of receiving the loan. The government of India has stated that the time lapse between the loan and the beginning of repayment makes it practically interest-free since, this loan interest works out to roughly Rs. 7-8 crore per month.

India is getting loan for the High-Speed Rail Project at almost zero cost without putting any strain on existing financial resources available with the country, as more than 80 per cent of the project cost is being funded by Government of Japan. It is for the first time in the history of the country that an infrastructure project is being funded on such favourable terms.

Make in India push

One of the prime objectives of the project is realise the push for "Make in India". As per the agreement between Governments, the MAHSR Project has "Make in India" and "Transfer of technology" objectives. Four sub-groups with representatives from Indian industry, Japanese industry, DIPP, NHSRCL & JETRO have beeb formed to identify potential items and sub-systems for make in India

Active interactions are already taking place between the industries of India and Japan. Both governments expected that many joint ventures will be formed in the time to come to take up manufacturing of various components including rolling stock. This will not only benefit the Indian Industry with new technology but will also create several job opportunities within the country. The Make in India objective will also ensure that most of the amount invested in this project would be spent and utilized within India.

The construction sector in India will also get a big boost not only in terms of investment but also with respect to new technology and work culture. This project is likely to generate employment for about 20,000 workers during the construction phase, who will be trained specially to take up construction of such projects in India. Some of the new areas where construction skills would be developed are ballast-less track, under sea tunnel etc.

High-Speed Rail Training Institute in Vadodara

A dedicated High-Speed Rail Training Institute is being developed at Vadodara. This institute will be fully equipped with equipment and facilities such as simulator etc. as are existing in the training institute in Japan. This institute will be functional by the end of 2020.

The facilities at this institute will be utilized to train about 4,000 staff in next three years, who will then be utilized for operation and maintenance ensuring that this work is through skilled people in India rather than foreign dependent. They will also serve as a back bone for future development of other High-Speed Corridors in India

300 young officials of Indian Railways are being trained in Japan to give them exposure in High-Speed Track Technology. Keeping in view the long-term plan for human resource development, Government of Japan has also offered 20 seats per year for Master's course from the universities of Japan, for serving Indian Railway officials. This program is fully funded by Government of Japan.

Technology and safety go hand in hand

The Shinkansen Technology is known for its reliability and safety and is proven for more than 50 years. The train delay record of Shinkansen is less than a minute with zero fatality.

The project is set to provide reliable and comfortable service with high standards of safety. The technology regarding disaster predictions and preventions will also be acquired as a part of the project. Such safety systems ensure that the train operation safety is maintained in case of any natural calamity such as earthquake etc.

OneIndia News