'A Mumbai-Ahmedabad flight will take less time'

Alkapuri Krishnakant Chauhan a former Mumbaikar has visited 150 of the 198 villages in Gujarat that are set to lose land to the bullet train project He says he supports the public transport system but has serious reservations about the bullet train According to him the price that farmers are paying for it may not be worth itBrought up in Dharavi the commerce graduate moved to Surat a few years ago to pursue social work I wanted to support guide and assist families as well as advocate the cause of protecting our natural environment So when I got the chance to be associated with Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti PSS in Vadodara I was happy I joined hands with PSSs Rohit Prajapati an environmental activist and there has been no looking back says Chauhan when we meet him in VadodaraAiming for a December 2023 completion the bullet train is based on Japans Shinkansen technology for which a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between India and Japan on December 12 2015 and the estimated cost is Rs 108000 crore But both Chauhan and Prajapati feel the price that farmers will pay is too highThis train is targeting fertile land livelihood and the environment As per the feasibility report the train is going through reserve forests and mangroves requiring the felling of around 80000 trees says PrajapatiOn December 8 2018 Chauhan and he wrote to Japan International Cooperation Agency JICA requesting it to look into the several loopholes the PSS listed in the bullet train project It took 50 years for the first bullet train in Japan to break even The cost will only increase the per capita debt burden and it will also make it difficult for the Indian Railways to manage its priorities and economics Chauhan addsPrajapati says its not just the economics but even the logistics that dont add up The Indian government is promoting waterways and air travel It is establishing airports in tier II towns All major cities including Ahmedabad and Mumbai are well connected by air In addition there is the national highway and an express highway connecting the two cities Work is also on for a Western Dedicated Freight CorridorRohit Prajapati a member of Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti in Vadodara was also a part of the Narmada Bachao AndolanThe two argue that even the government has in the past argued that the bullet train isnt feasible Dinesh Trivedi chairperson of the Standing Committee on Railways 201415 of the Ministry of Railways Railway Board of the 16th Lok Sabha in a report submitted the same year stated that the bullet train project is financially unviable The report a copy of which is with midday states The committee feels that if the amount equivalent to that proposed for the bullet train is used for execution of the long pending railway projects the benefits to the general public would be much higherInterestingly in May 2015 a few months after this report was published the former railway minister Trivedi had said The Centre is planning bullet trains when people travel like cattle in locals First think about these people and then talk about something else On the one hand we talk about Chandrayaan and on the other people are forced to travel like this First make the common mans travel dignified and then talk about bullet trains The bitter part of the truth is that the foundation of the Indian Railways is shakyImprove Virars condition firstOnly a person living in Virar knows how horrible the current local railway network is says Shashikant Sonawane member of Palghars Adivasi Ekta Parishad Bhumi Sena Why isnt the government upgrading the suburban railway lines If they want to concentrate on public transport then the Indian Railways should be their priority Sonawane says a source from the Indian Railways told him With the Rs 1 lakh crore that is being used to build the bullet they Indian Railways would have modernised the existing railway system across the country But nobody seems to be talking about thisAshok Datar Transport expertAshok Datar transport expert agrees with Sonawane The bullet train is not viable I have travelled in Japan and the volumes using the bullet train are huge Here we dont have those numbers of people travelling in trains When you build such expensive infrastructure it needs to be planned properly He continues Most importantly they are not updating the existing track they are building a parallel track This means there will be loss of land mangroves forests and wildlife I feel we should be giving attention to better technology instead such as the freight corridor to transport goods This will also decongest the roadsCurrently the fastest train operating on this sector is the Ahmedabad Duronto Express which takes sixandaquarter hours to reach Mumbai Central from Ahmedabad running nonstop between these two cities at a maximum speed of 130 kmh The ticket price for the bullet however is expected to be around Rs 3000 and the journey between the two cities will be covered in three hours For the same price one can take an hourlong flight between Ahmedabad and Mumbai Thus air travel Sonawane argues is a far more convenient option When we have flights local trains buses and private cars that can run between Ahmedabad and Mumbai why do we need the bullet train Also if they say they are doing this to decongest roads why is the government building the VadodaraMumbai ExpresswayOn the question of the viability of the project the India office of JICA responded over email saying The first loan agreement of this project was signed on September 28 2018 as Tranche 1 and the second loan agreement was signed on October 29 2018 as Tranche 2 The repayment period of these loans is 50 years According to the plan 35 trains per direction per day will be operated on inauguration Later on as demand rises the number of trains will be increased Expected traffic volume per direction per day is 17900 at inauguration and will increase The agency didnt respond to middays questions regarding terms of the resettlement plan selection of the route and compensationCurrent trains running emptyIn 2017 activist Anil Galgali filed an RTI on how many people used the MumbaiAhmedabad rail network The reply showed that due to fewer passengers on the MumbaiAhmedabad section the Indian RailwaysWestern Division booked a loss of nearly R30 crore in the last quarterKrishnakant Chauhan says the first bullet train in Japan took 50 years to break evenGalgali in his RTI query had asked about the seat occupancy on all trains between Mumbai and Ahmedabad a sixhour journey To which the Western Railway reportedly responded saying that in August September and October 2017 40 per cent seats went vacant on the MumbaiAhmedabad route and 44 per cent on the AhmedabadMumbai sectionNHSRCL on how the bullet train plan was finalisedWhy has this route been finalised when there are freight corridor and expressway projects planned on the same beltNHSRCL has been entrusted with the construction of MumbaiAhmedabad High Speed CorridorHow does the government plan on repaying the soft loan taken from Japan By which year do you see this happeningThe loan repayment will be done through earningsHow many trips will the bullet train make in a dayThere will be 70 trips made 35 each way every dayBy when will the bullet train start runningTarget date is Dec 2023Ticket price needs to be Rs 1500 IIMA STUDYJapan has offered a concessional loan of Rs 97636 crore to fund 80 per cent of the project cost with a repayment period of 50 years beginning from the 16th year of operation at an interest rate of 01 per cent A report released by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad IIMA in April 2016 states The proposed bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad will have to ferry 88000118000 passengers per day or undertake 100 trips daily for the Railways to keep it financially viable So we need three trains every hour in each direction For this to be achieved the report says the Railways needs to set the ticket price at Rs 15002023Year bullet train is expected to start130Speed in kmph of the MumbaiAhmedabad Duronto Express trainCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates