Monday, June 27, 2005
It's a plane. No, it's a train!
Japan has begun testing its new-generation bullet trains, eager to break the speed records currently held by the French TGV, which has a top-speed of 218 miles per hour. The new Fastech 360S bullet train will eventually run at a top-speed of 223 mph, faster than many propeller airplanes, according to CNN. By the time the test ends, it is hoped that the train will top 250 mph.
Now, there has been a great deal of talk in India about introducing a bullet train system in India. The PM has not been very happy with the idea, and has insisted that the government has other priorities when it comes to spending public money. But, let's assume the hypothetical situation that the Fastech 360S was introduced, new tracks were laid for the purpose and so on. Let's also assume the bullet train can average 160 mph or 257 kmph, rather than run at top-speed. Effectively you could then travel between...
The distance are all calculated based on highway distances. Some train journeys may be longer than highways and some less. Nevertheless, it gives you some idea of how easily we could commute between cities and regions if we made had made the right sort of investments in the railway system and introduced some level of competition, instead of subsidising passenger travel (at the expense of freight travel) to high heaven. Effectively, the railways will lose all of its time-conscious (and price-inelastic) travellers to the low-cost airlines in the next few years, which is not such a bad thing, I guess.
Now, there has been a great deal of talk in India about introducing a bullet train system in India. The PM has not been very happy with the idea, and has insisted that the government has other priorities when it comes to spending public money. But, let's assume the hypothetical situation that the Fastech 360S was introduced, new tracks were laid for the purpose and so on. Let's also assume the bullet train can average 160 mph or 257 kmph, rather than run at top-speed. Effectively you could then travel between...
* Bombay -- Delhi in 5.5 hours
* Bombay -- Madras in 5.2 hours
* Bombay -- Bangalore in 3.9 hours
* Delhi -- Calcutta in 5.7 hours
* Bangalore -- Madras in 1.3 hours
* Bangalore -- Hyderabad in 2.2 hours
* Cochin -- Delhi in 10 hours
* Trivandrum -- Agartala in 16 hours
The distance are all calculated based on highway distances. Some train journeys may be longer than highways and some less. Nevertheless, it gives you some idea of how easily we could commute between cities and regions if we made had made the right sort of investments in the railway system and introduced some level of competition, instead of subsidising passenger travel (at the expense of freight travel) to high heaven. Effectively, the railways will lose all of its time-conscious (and price-inelastic) travellers to the low-cost airlines in the next few years, which is not such a bad thing, I guess.
