HIGH
SPEED RAILWAYS
(Uday
Shankar Jha)
Serious
doubt on the efficacy of Railways to cater the need of passenger’s services is
looming large and demand for urgent attention for policy planner and greater
public. High speed railways could be a
survival mechanism in passenger
services in modern era when airways is giving tough competition and improved
prosperity has increased expectations from the passengers. Although Railway is considered to be more
environment friendly and energy efficient in absence of high speed railways
passenger traffic was gradually moving out and preferring airways particularly
in medium and long distance segment in developed countries. Even in developing countries like China, India, Brazil, Russia etc. with growing
prosperity more people are searching out some alternative for existing slow
speed railways which is not only time consuming to travel but also very
difficult to get a confirm reserved seat to different locations. This article would evaluate the economics of
high speed railways, its viability in developing countries, prevailing problems
and emerging solutions world vide and would try to evaluate emerging trajectory
in near future.
A
high speed rail service, if implemented properly can give competitive advantage
over existing fastest means of transportation-Airlines for journey around 1000
kms or above which was traditionally being catered by overnight train
journey. This sector was gradually
whisking away to the air transportation which was carrying passenger in less than
two hour. Similarly, intercity traffic
in the range of 250 kms to 500 kms was moving out in favour of roadways in
absence of appropriate high speed railways.
With the help of high speed railways these passengers can be brought
back to the railways. However, the
financial and economic viability of high speed rail view of demographic and
economic condition are limited as it depends on enough people being able to pay
a premium price to use them. In absence
of sufficient number of affluent people there could not be many users to use
this service. In such situation the
policy planner has to target less affluent people or middle and lower income
people to attract them to high speed rail by offering them some innovative
scheme for longer period of time.
As
per World Bank Report (2010 pp2), high speed rail line has dual advantage. At one hand it provides valuable travel time
savings to users. On the other had it
free up the capacity on existing line which gives them opportunity to use the
line capacity for other transport user partially for freight services yielding
higher revenue for the railways. Despite
using high energy high speed rail can earn carbon credit if it is able to win
away air travel passengers to its fold.
High speed rail can bring a series of prosperity and higher industrial
development in the entire area due to better connectivity leading to higher
real estate price and increase in industrial production.
Definition of High Speed Train
Globally
those trains which are traveling at the maximum speed of 250 kms per hour or
more are defined as high speed train.
Such trains are being run on dedicated high speed lines. This service reduces travel time
substantially and improves service level in big terms. Many a time these services provide end connection
and direct route availability. Japan was the pioneer with its Shinkansen trains
followed by France
with TGV & Germany with Maglev trains.
Subsequently Spain, UK, Italy,
Belgium, Netherland,
Taiwan & China have also
developed high speed trains. China
was one for the late entrants but it has developed a big scheme to cover many
parts of the country and they have also successfully tested high speed train
for more than 450 Kms per hour for commercial use. In the end of 2012 global
length of high speed line is estimated nearly 13000 Kms.
Development of high speed train
Japan
The
transportation need of 1964 Tokyo Olympics led to the development of first
commercial high speed train in Japan. The train services started in Japan in
1950. There was conventional freight and
passenger mixed use all over Japan
and due to higher population and rail use many lines became heavily
congested. To meet the Olympic related
transport requirements additional capacity was needed. At that time Japan decided
to construct a separate 550 Kms long passenger dedicated, electrified high
speed line on a new alignment with the help of World Bank. The construction
work started in the year 1959. Its
service was opened well before 1964 Tokyo Olympics. This Tokiado Shinkansen popularly
known as bullet train brought about quantum improvement by substantial
reduction in travel time and offered much higher frequency of services between
Tokyo and Osaka from 04 each day to an hourly services and ultimately to three
trains per hour. This experiment was a financial success. Within three years, its revenue exceeded
operating cost including interest and depreciation. Subsequently Japanese
government set out a blue print for high speed network of approximately 7000
route Kms. The average commercial speed of Tokyo
– Osaka service
is 200Km per hour with four intermediate halts.
Europe
Subsequently
in France SNCF (French National Railway) adopted Japanese model by building a
dedicated line on new alignment with electric traction in 1967. British Railways introduced passenger
services capable of operating at over 200 Km per hour from London
to Bristol in
1976. In 1981 service between Paris and Lyon was started. Between 1985 and 2007 services between France and Switzerland,
Belgium and Holland &
France and Germany
were started with high speed network of 1700 route Kms. In 2010, high speed
route Kms was 5500 spanning in countries like Spain,
Germany, Belgium and
Netherland (World Bank 2010 pp4-5). Thus, France was third country to have
high speed railways in 1967.
Asia
After
the experience of Japanese and Europe HSR train next step was taken by Taiwan, China
& Korea. The Korean line between Seoul & Busen was
opened in 2004 up to Daegu and completed in 2010. The high speed railway between Taipei and Kaohsiung
was opened in 2007. The most phenomenal
growth of high speed railways has been seen by Chinese Railways.
China
Massive
economic development in China
increased the demand of infrastructural facility particularly the railway
transportation both in freight and passenger transportation manifold. During
1990's railways in China
was proving to be major bottleneck in the development of nations. Hence a
deliberate attempt was made to discourage short distance travel in freight and
passenger traffic. Due to this the average distance travelled by passengers
doubled from 275 km in 1990 to 534 in 2008. Even the maximum speed of
conventional trains was increased from 100kmph to 160 Kmph on around 13000 km
of passenger routes.
The
real thrust of high speed railway came with creation of Guangshen Railway
company as a subsidiary of the Guangdeng Regional Rail Administration. Its
first milestone was opening of a trial
section of about 60kms of high speed live in 2003 between Quinhuangdo and Shenyang. This was used to
test various types of track design and EMU alternatives for even further
trains. In 2004, the company introduced first train at a maximum speed of 200
Kmph between Guangzhou
and Shenzhen. Following its success express electric multiple unit trains of
200kmph was introduced on 16,500 km of track. In 2007 on over 6000km of mixed
use routes 140 train pair per day was launched. These were operating at a top
speed of 200 to 250 kmph and were having commercial speed of over 150 Kmph by
2008 between Guangzhen and Shenzhen. 80
trains were operating at an interval of every 15 minutes. Its coaches were
different from the conventional coaches, i.e. EMU coaches. These have two
classes. First class accommodation has 2
by 2 reclining seats. On the other hand second class has 2 by 3 seats
combination. The price of these services was higher than the normal express
trains. These services proved to be immensely popular as the general ambience
and riding qualities of this trains were world class. To gain at least some
return on investment the price charged on this services were higher than normal
express trains. The high popularity of these trains indicated that general
public of ready to pay higher service cost if these are catered in proper
manner. All round advancement and evolution of in the standards and management
of various railway subsystem like signalling trains, reception and dispatch,
train control system, telecommunication, electrical tractions, motive power,
rolling stock, track structure and track formation and train operation led to
progressive enhancement to speed and performance. The growing technical
competencies in all these areas further boosted the progress of high speed
rail.
One
unique bold decision on the part of Ministry of Chinese railway to separate
rolling stock manufacturing units from its own fold in year 2000 went in a long
way to speed up the process. This
facilitated international manufacturers in joint ventures with Chinese
counterparts to participate in the bidding of coach procurement. This provided Chinese rail access to modern
traction technology over a relatively short period of time. Due to this modern manufacturing plants and
know-how transfer in the design and manufacturing of modern train sets became
easy to increase competition.
Deliberately two or more joint ventures were established for each
product to encourage multiple suppliers to prepare and compete for future high
speed train business. Ministry of
Chinese railway has declared long term plan up to 2020 for high speed railway
procurement of a relatively large volumes of EMUs. Initially four major international
manufactures – Bombardier, Kawasaki, Hitachi and Alstom - established joint
venture with Chinese counterparts and all these were awarded contracts for 200
EMU train sets each for 250 Kmph and 350 Kmph.
Separation of Passenger and Freight Services
Chinese
government also decided for separating passenger and freight services on all
congested main routes and to developed fast intercity regional passenger networks
in densely populated areas. Unlike
Indian Railway which has decided to develop dedicated freight corridor the
Chinese Railway decided to construct high speed passenger dedicated lines on
which services are fit to operate at top speed between 250 and 350 Kmph. In China the plan was made for four
North-South and four East -West corridors.
The total length planned by the end of 2020 was for approximately by
16000 kms. at the speed of 350 kmph.
Whereas, another 20000 kms were planned for mixed traffic high speed
lines with a target speed of 200 to 250 kmph.
China
has planned that all provincial level capitals and cities having more than 5
lakh residents are served by high speed railways. This will cater to the need of 90% of
population of China.
Unlike
traditional railway coaches Chinese government has decided for a set of eight
car train with High speed AC drive EMUs, with high strength aluminium alloy
body shells weighing 8.5 tons. China has decided for four main EMU depots at Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Guangzhou. China was planning to procure about
1000 EMU train sets latest by 2015 to cater the growing demand. Help of several foreign firms have been
obtained to manufacture high speed trains.
Bombardier – Sifang is a joint venture company between Canadian and
Chinese manufactures. Kawasaki heavy
Industries of Japan has also licensed a Chinese firm to manufacture with
transfer of technology and knowhow, Simens, Alstom General Electric, Hitachi
and other prominent rail coach manufacturers have also secured business. By the end of 2012 more than 10,000 kms have
been opened for high speed rails of 350 Kmph or more commercial speed has
already been started. Such services are
helping not only to its passenger, but also the freight traffic is reaping its
benefit as additional capacity has become available on tradition rail
routes. This has given a major boost to
freight traffic. Even now the Chinese
intercity has got better connectivity increasing its economic competitiveness.
Service Performance Evaluation
Since
high speed trains are running at a commercial speed of 200 kmph or more upto
350 kmph or even more, these have provided a quantum jump in service level and
substantial reduction in travel time.
Initially such services are started with eight EMU coaches and at an
interval of one hour. However, if there
is more demand, then number of coaches and frequency can be increased upto
sixteen coaches and frequency can be increased upto five services in one hour
as in Japan
in Tokaido Shinkansen line where 119 pairs per day are plying. However, if number
of services increases then associated passenger amenities items has to increase
to match peak hour demands including improved accessibility by road or metro
rail, ticketing and separating arriving and departing passengers and
comfortable waiting areas and other related services. If these facilities are
provided properly, then reduction of travel time becomes a greatest attraction
to the public. They mentally become prepared to pay much high price in
comparison to traditional rail services.
Overall, even there is tremendous boost in demand and many air
travellers get attracted to it for its comparative convenience, reliability
punctuality and flexibility of services. On punctuality front, high speed
trains are more reliable. It is much
higher in those countries where dedicated high speed passenger lines have been
constructed. These services in Japan are at
the top where average delay on the Tokaido line is of only 10 seconds. On safety front also Japan is top
performer where no death has occurred from the start of service for last 40
years. Even in country like France,
Germany etc. it is much better
particularly in comparison to road and air travel. High speed of rail helps in keeping operating
and maintenance cost much lower than the capital cost. Speed also delivers better equipment’s and
train crew turn round times. Working
ratio i.e. operating cost (excluding depreciation) to revenue of 40 percent and
operating ratio i.e. operating cost (including depreciation) to revenue of 55
percent was achieved by Japanese railways.
Even TGV Sudoest Est line in France
has been able to maintain 40 percent and 60 percent respectively.
High Speed Railway in India :
HSR
in India
at present is only at discussion level. Although it started appearing in the
Indian Railways (IR) wish list since
2005. In absence of proper financing
mechanism, it is still in pre-feasibility study mode. Initially Mumbai –
Ahmedabad section was identified, as here density of intercity traffic was one
of the highest and the paying capacity is much better than any other part of
the country. However, not much progress has been there even after the lapse of
almost seven years. In the meantime, one Japanese consortium – under the
leadership of METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry) Japan with association of Mitsubishi, Kawasaki,
Hitachi Research Institute - has also
moved a proposal to run Semi High Speed Rail (SHSR) in the Mumbai – Delhi section. Here, they
have proposed to run train at commercial speed of 150 Kmph whereas the present
maximum speed has been something around 87 Kmph. This is proposed to be
achieved by improving existing railway line. This would entail improvement in
railway points and crossing, signalling, track and bridges.
On
the other hand, the IR has also selected a Japanese consortium to undertake
feasibility study for running the train at 300 Kmph on the 869 Km long Chennai-
Bangalore – Thiruvananthpuram section.
Five different sections have also been studied by different agencies to run the
bullet trains. Systra Fran
, France has
studied Pune – Mumbai – Ahmedabad (650
Kms) section. UK
based consultant – Mott McDonald has been engaged to conduct the
pre-feasibility study of the longest Delhi – Agra – Lucknow – Varanasi - Patna (991 Kms) section.
Spanish consultant Eneco has been
entrusted the task of studying shortest Howrah
– Haldia (130 Kms) section. Delhi – Chandigarh – Amritsar
(450 Kms) is another identified section. A separate National High Speed Rail
Aauthority on the pattern of the
National Highway Authority was also on the cards (The Free Press Journal, Feb
2012). In the meantime, the Chief
Minister of Maharashtra has also proposed for high speed railway between Mumbai
– Nagpur (738
Kms) section at a cost of `. 1.3 lakh crore at a speed between 300 – 350 Kmph
(The DNA, July, 2012). As per one estimate, the construction cost of one Km
would be `.100 crore which is around 10 to 16 times higher than the
conventional rate of IR. At this level
of investment ridership revenue at best would be able to cover only operating
cost. In such a situation, the state
government, the sovereign bank, Planning Commission and other Financial
institutions have to play a pro-active role if at all this is going to happen
in India.
Precondition for High Speed Rail
If
the economy of any nation is having strong undercurrent of higher growth and
existing road and rail network is congested, specially the Trunk route, then
high speed rail provides an opportunity for faster development by contributing
to economy in several manner. The
released capacity due to construction of high speed rail provides an
opportunity for the existing rail network to cater to the freight services
which otherwise could not have been provided and economy had to ultimately
suffer on this account. Further, high speed rail in passenger service provides
an opportunity to passenger services in a faster manner, making people’s labour
more productive. In any case, the
congested network requires expansion in capacity and construction of high speed
network to cater to services in speedier manner. However, this benefit is or
will be achieved if the distance between two cities is more than 500 – 700 Km apart, because for lesser distance, people
will always prefer road journey, particularly for distance less than 100 kms.
Further, the recovery of high investment would be possible only when higher
number of services are plied between such cities, at least 20 or more pairs in
each direction. Such network can only sustain when the existing market has
sufficient purchasing power including premium high speed services at a much
higher cost. If any economy has very limited middle or higher class, high speed
rail network cannot sustain. In such a situation, countries particularly BRIC
countries like Brazil, Russia, India, China, and other fast developing
countries including Malaysia, Taiwan and
Thailand provide a conducive situation for the development of fast passenger rail network.
Coming
back to India
in this perspective, we can say the construction of Dedicated Freight Corridor
is not with the above economic criteria. Indian Railways should have
constructed Dedicated High Speed Passenger network and the released capacity of
existing network should have been utilized for the freight traffic.
Last
but not the least, any service of high speed rail system can ultimately sustain
only when entire system is operationally robust. There should be higher number
of services which will also maintain punctuality and safety over the ambience
(World Bank 2010 – pp20). Meeting the
challenge is a complex task. This requires seamless interaction of diverse
technology in the area of foundation, bridges, tunnels, track, power system,
communication, signalling, train set, train management, train safety,
ticketing, passenger amenities, and systematic passenger/crows movement. At
present, at global scale none of the underdeveloped or developing countries is
able to fulfil all these conditions.
Hence,
we notice that barring few developed countries , there is hardly any high speed
network. Some of the countries among these can aspire and meticulously plan for
and implement high speed rail network, at least in those areas where there is
high passenger movement. Since rate of returns is going to be much less in
comparison to heavy investment, such projects need a long term commitment of
public budgetary contribution along with commitment and discipline to implement
such a gigantic infrastructure project.
Bibliography
:
The World Bank Report 2010 – High Speed Rail.
Feasibility Study of Semi-High Speed Rail
Development in India, July,
2011(Outline), METI, Japan
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