The Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project is something that was announced in 2017. The situation of the project today is worrisome and sad as we see it. Air travel gets you to any place at a cheaper cost. My train ride from Mumbai to Bangalore is 24 hours long. It’s only marginally cheaper from the air fare by Rs 300. I’m choosing this so I can avoid re-quarantining in Bengaluru, although I think I’ll enjoy it. It’s been eight years since I last travelled on an Indian train and maybe a decade since an overnight journey. So why high speed rail?
The new project is going to cost more and cannot have as many coaches as a regular rail. So, this is neither solving the issue of mass travel, not getting us anywhere faster or cheaper. Multiple flights at the same time can carry 10 or 12 times the number of folks who’d opt traveling by the new train in the same travel period.
Also, this isn’t private money. The project is using our taxes, so why this then? I think the project has more to do with pride and I hope you’re getting a sense of where I’m going.
This rail project is not a good use of our taxes. I hope unless it is 100% privately funded project, there should be no more projects. You can’t even borrow for any of the states at this time. In that case, we definitely shouldn’t be spending our money on such lunacy.