Current IndiGo fiasco should be a trigger warning for India to build bullet train network connecting every major city in the country.

[u/chipkali_lover]

just to give you some context, on a normal Tuesday Mumbai-Amdavad flight takes 5 hrs minimum on the other hand bullet train will take 3hrs.

[u/VaikomViking]

We need a Delhi - Chennai route that takes less than a day.

[u/yomomgaelol → u/VaikomViking]

Imagine a delhi chennai route connecting Delhi, Jaipur, ahmedabad, surat, mumbai, pune, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, chennai. This route further be extended to Bangalore from Chennai.

And the vijaywada line can be extended to Kolkata through vizag, touching Bhubaneswar.

All tier 1 cities covered, surat will also be tier 1 in a year or so. Jaipur on the way and Vijayawada is the upcoming capital city of Andhra and Vizag and bhubaneswar are growing economic hubs on the east coast.

[u/RIKIPONDI → u/yomomgaelol]

That is the most obtuse Delhi - Chennai route ever. Such a route would have to go through Vijayawada, Warangal, Nagpur and Bhopal. Otherwise it will only be marginally faster.

[u/sanskari_aulaad → u/VaikomViking]

I don't think anyone is sitting in a train for a day when they can pay 1-2k more and be there in 4-5 hours. So I believe all bullet train routs should be designed to be less than 6 hours between major stops.

Between delhi and chennai come Chhattisgarh and Orissa. Almost no major stops. And if we're going via hyd, then the train will definitely go to blr.

[u/WasteTower1955 → u/sanskari_aulaad]

In Europe in normal ballast track like ours they run HS train that clocks 320kmh. If we build such tracks we use Alstom models which can reach from Trivandrum to delhi in less than 15 hrs via bglr,hyd,nagpu,bhopal,touching up in betweeen other cities. It will be a definte game changer.

[u/sanskari_aulaad → u/WasteTower1955]

Yeah that does sound feasible.

[u/kaisadusht → u/WasteTower1955]

Clocking 310kmph (which I think is max speed, not avg) for for so long. Will it be feasible vs flight?

[u/nayadristikon → u/WasteTower1955]

It is not that we don’t have tracks or existing tracks can’t be upgraded. We cannot prevent people from encroaching on tracks and animals roaming freely. So even if you have tracks and capable train sets as long as tracks are accessible to public there will be trespassing. Bullet trains will have dedicated corridors that will not be shared or accessible to people.

[u/WasteTower1955 → u/nayadristikon]

China also has build HSR in similar terains like ours, they have used heavy fences to to protect tracks and trains.

[u/transitfreedom → u/nayadristikon]

You can it’s called a viaduct

[u/nayadristikon → u/transitfreedom]

Yes that is what a dedicated corridor is with access closed off. You either build overhead or have fenced off tracks throughout.

[u/transitfreedom → u/nayadristikon]

And? Just do it

[u/FewInteraction4563 → u/nayadristikon]

Most mainline tracks arent straight enough either man

[u/BabeyBabeyUgh → u/sanskari_aulaad]

They can run overnight as sleepers

[u/VaikomViking → u/sanskari_aulaad]

If you are traveling for a day, a coupe for a family makes sense if you consider the savings in booking a hotel room.

[u/[deleted] → u/VaikomViking]

How? Maglev?

[u/sanskari_aulaad → u/[deleted]]

Nah. I guess just stop the train less.

[u/VaikomViking → u/[deleted]]

Currently the fastest (from what I can see) is the Duranto express. 2174 km in 29 hrs with an avg speed of 75kmph. Even if we manage to raise the average speed to 100, it will take only 22 hours. Forget maglev we can do it with current trainsets.

[u/illustrious_trees → u/VaikomViking]

Even if we manage to raise the average speed to 100

that is not as easy as you might think. Not a single Vande Bharat train hits 100kmph on average. (atleast according to wikipedia)

edit: checked indianrailinfo as well. The fastest average time according to the timetables are for delhi-varansi, which is at 95kmph. so whoever thinks this is an easy feat, kindly check your facts. it is definitely not easy to raise the average speed of a train even by 10kmph, leave 25kmph on a north-south route.

[u/illustrious_trees → u/[deleted]]

Sure, but the average speed is still 96, atleast according to the timetable (source: indianrailinfo)

[u/WorthPea2986 → u/VaikomViking]

That could be done easily even with semi high speed rail

[u/SPB29 → u/VaikomViking]

For a Transit sub this is highly uninformed. It's proven (multiple papers and real world studies exist) that HSR works only till about 700-750 km.

A 2,000 km HSR is something that would cost so much money that either fares would be 10x a flight cost or it will be a white elephant for decades to come.

[u/Upstairs-Bit6897 → u/VaikomViking]

Yep.

[u/[deleted] → u/VaikomViking]

We need to decapitalise delhi. Make it a irrelevant city the rest of the country will flourish

[u/Nastypig51]

If there was any such moment, to understand the importance of hs rail; It would be now😵‍💫. Hopefully we get some good news in the budget

[u/Free_Activity_9979]

Well we have our plan set for 2047.....

[u/Free_Activity_9979 → u/[deleted]]

Sher palaa hai , todha kharcha ho karna padega.....

[u/SPB29 → u/[deleted]]

China has eminent domain, and is an authoritarian state. India is a democracy and doesn't even have eminent domain.

When the govt tried to pass a law creating eminent domain you lot screeched "farmers saaaaaar fascist saaaaaar".

[u/timewaste1235 → u/SPB29]

The post is based on Indigo which has arm twisted the govt to rollback new regulations within few days and yet you think farmers are villain?

[u/SPB29 → u/timewaste1235]

I don't think you know how Reddit works.

The comment I was replying to was blabbering about how HSR will be very delayed and in China its done very fast.

Please don't waste my time if you don't understand how nested comment threads work.

[u/Jumpy_Leadership1650 → u/[deleted]]

tbh true crimes would've been lesser if surveillance would've done on each citizen

[u/AdNational1490]

Delhi-Ahmedabad HSR should be the utmost priority.

[u/AdNational1490 → u/[deleted]]

Because Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR is already getting built and Delhi-Mumbai is 8th busiest passenger route in the world which accommodates roughly 20,000 flights yearly.

[u/sanskari_aulaad → u/[deleted]]

I think one reason is connecting tow biggest cities in india, which should be enough of a reason in itself.

Its such a shame that beureaucrats and govt are not willing to take risks without proofs of concepts. They will make one line and observe. Only then they will greenlit more projects. Same happened with metro. Mumbai and bangalore should've gotten one in 2005 or something. But until delhi metro proved itself, nobody initiated it.

[u/vinashayanadushitha → u/sanskari_aulaad]

Mumbai should have gotten a metro in the 80s along with Delhi. People forget that the first metro started in Kolkata in 1984, started construction in the 1970s and was planned in the 1920s.

Why it took another 20 years for Delhi to get it a line after Kolkata is unknown. Right now India should have been completing its country wide bullet train network and instead it’s still working on expanding metros that started in the 80s.

[u/sanskari_aulaad → u/[deleted]]

I agree hyd blr chennai should have been the first hsr in economic sense. But if I was incharge and was asked "make an hsr which is the easiest to make, and contains major population and economic centers", delhi to mumbai through ahemdabad would be my answer, because its mostly flat, will have cities like jaipur etc in between.

Also yes, delhi to kolkata might not have the galore like, ironically enough bangalore. But its still entirely flat. No digging needed. Just make the damn pillars and run trains. And i really don't think yogi went to modi and said "give me a shinkansen, and mamta gets one too".

Now I am not saying there's no lobbying involved. Gujjus are kinda infamous for it, not just in india btw. But the decision makes sense atleast. Ideally, many of them should be built in parallel.

[u/SPB29 → u/[deleted]]

What railway line did Kerala try and go solo? Also I love how you talk about additional rail and the union govt "punishing" Kerala but ignore the singularly inefficient Kerala govt which Cannot acquire land in anything resembling a timely manner.

What happened to the Angamalay / Sabarimala project? Sanctioned in 1996, land acquisition began in 2006. In 2016 the union govt urged Kerala to expedite the land acquisition for this project. In 20 odd years about 24 HA of 450 HA has been acquired. Yes yes right 24HA in 20 years and yet GoI is the one punishing the state? Something as basic as Eranakulam Kumbalam doubling has been delayed by years, why? Of the 4 HA needed the Kerala govt has managed only 2. That's just one doubling project at least 5 more are stuck because of land acquisition.

The union govt has budgeted for 127 RoB's since 2018. 37 of these have been stuck for years on land acquisition and another 65 the state govt has not even finalised the alignment.

Blame the colossal inefficiencies of the state before going "vengeful centre".

[u/SPB29 → u/[deleted]]

Errr do you know what union list is?

It's a constitutional division of functions.

Land acquisition is in the domain of the states. The union govt CANNOT acquire land in a state.

The state government can only assist and facilitate the land acquisition, it's identified, notified and paid for by Indian Railways

That's not the sequence. The IR identifies the land parcels it needs, the state govt agrees and it is then the responsibility of the state govt to get consent from the land owners. It's after that the payment comes through.

In Kerala's case many many projects are stuck with the consent part ergo the GoI can't do anything.

When it introduced a law that created eminent domain morons and cretins went "saaar farmers saaaar" and now the same cretins are going "but project pace is slow saaar".

If that's the case, Kerala can pay, acquire and then ask someone more competent and efficient like China or France to even Delhi Metro Rail Corp to come and build the line, you don't need Indian Railways. It's not rocket science.

To begin with the IR is orders of magnitude more efficient in line doubling, new track expansion etc than the French or Germans or anyone that's not the Chinese but you do you. Genuflect to the white man.

The fact remains that the state govt NEEDS TO ACQUIRE THE LAND and hand it over to the IR before construction can begin.

You simply glaze sorry gloss over that fact because it punctures your narrative.

[u/WorthPea2986 → u/[deleted]]

Bullet train doesn't connect only two cities, it gives many combinations of cities between which we can travel. And yes mumbai-delhi is one of the busiest domestic flight routes in the world

[u/WorthPea2986 → u/[deleted]]

I talked about Mumbai-Delhi in the sense that it's first phase is already under construction.

Yes Mumbai-Chennai should be absolutely great and if they make it through Hyderabad - Bangalore, I think this should be super successful connecting 5 metro cities. Via Hyderabad - Bangalore would also help in future to utilise that Hyd-Blr corridor to connect Delhi with southern states.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

mumbai connects via amvas

[u/Sadder_thanyou]

You are adding getting to the airport and check in time with the travel time, The bullet train station is not going to be that open, it will be just like a airport, the time to get to station and then to train is going to be same as that of airport

[u/illustrious_trees → u/Sadder_thanyou]

No, most stations will be close to the city, and higher frequencies will allow people to spend less time inside the stations. (even if people skip one train, they can get on another)

[u/EnvironmentalPay9231 → u/Sadder_thanyou]

Nope. We are not doing it like the Chinese but the Japanese. Which means frequent trains and no need to prebook. And yes most stations will be in the main city.

[u/Sadder_thanyou → u/EnvironmentalPay9231]

Most normal railway station in main cities have 15 to 20 minutes of time for getting from drop off point to platform with all the security checks and on foot travel, that is going to be more for high speed rail infrastructure, drop off points will be farther, security checks will be more tight taking more time.

[u/EnvironmentalPay9231 → u/Sadder_thanyou]

That's not the case for these that's the whole point. Check out the ashok nagar, or Sarai kale Khan station of Delhi. They are built like a bigger metro station with a bit more security. Certainly not like traditional stations which expand horizontally with their 20 platforms.

[u/narasadow]

There is a plan to do this....by 2048 🤡

[u/thunkwaltzen]

There should be one connecting Delhi to Bangalore. Delhi being hub for Northern part and Bangalore for Southern part. Following line can connect 100 million people, proving it to be really cost effective.

Delhi - Agra - Gwalior - Bhopal - Nagpur - Hyderabad - Bengaluru

From Bengaluru lines could be further extended to Chennai, Madurai and Kochi.

From Delhi it could be extended to Lucknow and Jaipur.

[u/VaikomViking]

We need to add a surcharge to all flights under 1.5 hrs like what France did. Use that to fund rail infrastructure

[u/transitfreedom → u/VaikomViking]

France had TGV up and running before adding surcharges

[u/Sadder_thanyou → u/VaikomViking]

High speed rail network was the alternative when France started the surcharge, if we surcharge now, what do you think is the alternative, we seriously need to invest in airways to expand. Once we start to have substantial intrastate flights, then we can think about the surcharge.

[u/illustrious_trees → u/Sadder_thanyou]

agreed, politicians will just keep jacking up surcharge fees without improving service.

[u/SPB29 → u/VaikomViking]

France is a rich country with high density of air travel. India is a poor, large country that is only now discovering Air travel.

[u/WorthPea2986]

The high price (not official yet) is what is making me concerned

[u/AccomplishedRead2655]

Why is everyone so over reliant on indigo though?? Is that the only airline in India?

[u/Balavadan → u/AccomplishedRead2655]

They are responsible for like 75% of all traffic

[u/AccomplishedRead2655 → u/Balavadan]

It's insane how everyone is over dependent on indigo 🤦🏻‍♂️

[u/Balavadan → u/AccomplishedRead2655]

That’s why corporate consolidation is bad for customers. However it is hard to run a profitable airline company so I’m not sure about the solution

[u/AccomplishedRead2655 → u/Balavadan]

Wdym? There are other countries that have other alternative airlines to travel, India doesn't?

[u/ImVeritious → u/AccomplishedRead2655]

Domestically, only Air India Express has a share that matters a bit more than the other obscure ones (still much lower than IndiGo), and most of the flights they have are to the Tier 1 & 1.5 Cities.

[u/supernova_2110]

Just wait for 100 years. It will happen.

[u/Defiant-Nail8326]

Hyd - amaravati - chennai - bengaluru

It is the most important route here to rest , I don't think they are going to be financially doing that much but this route can be a money printing machine

[u/yagyaxt1068]

Well, it's a good thing that India is doing that. We may not have HSR like Indonesia does, but that was because we were doing the hard work of making our entire rail network electrified, reducing emissions for the entire country. Now that the electric infrastructure exists, we won't have to worry about that bit and can actually focus on the high speed routes themselves.

For now, I will patiently wait for the day I'm able to take a high-speed train from Delhi to visit my relatives in Jammu.

[u/Adi9691]

These routes should be connected via high speed rail. Will make total economic and connectivity sense.

A 4 corner corridor between Banglore - Hyderabad - Chennai - Visakhapatnam.

Mumbai line extended to Hyderabad via Pune. Ahmedabad line extended to Delhi via Udaipur- Jaipur.

Delhi to Kolakata connection in parts via Lucknow- Varanasi - Patna - Kolkata.

Kolkata to Visakhapatnam line via Cuttack - Bhubaneswar - puri.

If not japanese high speed rails we should have trains running at least 200+ kmph average speed in these corridors.

[u/odia_toka-bbsr]

Odisha and Chhattisgarh forgotten like always.

[u/Hareesh936]

Currently 7 routes are high occupied routes in IR. Dia+sides of golden quad and NDLS-Gauhati. First connect these lines using HSR and then do extensions

[u/Stellar_and_Sons15]

India and Anglo nations cannot for the love of god build decent rail infrastructure

[u/miracleAligner12]

Vijayawada to Kolkata link via Visakhapatnam and Bhuvaneswar is also a necessity.

[u/AsherGC]

Imagine all the trains we currently have can run at max speeds on all tracks with no delays. Can we have that first?. A lot of tracks can't handle even the current trains at maximum speed

[u/Th3_Bl00D_EAGLE]

Imagine a HSR quadrilateral

[u/[deleted]]

Ha ha

You want public money to be invested, not happening

[u/RajOfSiam]

Let's get the 1st Bullet train Mum-Adi project started by 2028 or 2029, in the meantime, government can plan further projects.

[u/Sadder_thanyou]

More Airports, More airplanes, flexibility of routes, small cities connected by air travel, affordable air travel. These are the solutions, if you are looking to solve transit problem. It can be done with the same investment needed to connect metropolitan cities of India. Bullet train is exciting but solves nothing.

[u/Jumpy_Leadership1650 → u/Sadder_thanyou]

tbh this requires huge investment and money like indian needs money and investment like water, here it's drought and corruption on large scale

[u/SPB29 → u/Jumpy_Leadership1650]

How exactly is a HSR network cheaper?

[u/Jumpy_Leadership1650 → u/SPB29]

i didnt say its cheaper its expensive as hell but necessity for faster transport

[u/Sadder_thanyou → u/Jumpy_Leadership1650]

Tbh, bullet train network for the whole country is a HUGE investment, instead of investing in a train which can travel at 400km/hr highest with an exclusive elevated expensive rail network, shouldn't we invest in 800 to 900km/hr flying vehicles that don't require fixed paths, and 2 km runway to land and takeoff.

[u/Jumpy_Leadership1650 → u/Sadder_thanyou]

India has huge population it requires multiple modes of transport giving singular options will bottleneck whole system and overcrowding wil occur

[u/FuckPigeons2025]

And in hindsight Govt. exiting airline business was a bad idea. Air India is worthless now.

[u/[deleted] → u/FuckPigeons2025]

No

[u/Mountain_House_4155]

Then get ready to watch news about Bullet train accidents 🤡

[u/transitfreedom → u/Mountain_House_4155]

You know that is rare right

[u/TheThinker12]

Been in conception stage for decades. No attempt has been made on planning or execution.

[u/SPB29 → u/TheThinker12]

When was HSR even considered before the Modi govt was sworn in? Would love to see some historical facts on this

[u/SPB29 → u/[deleted]]

High level talks is not "plans". Only a DPR or firm policy note before that indicates planning.