Perhaps most attention, however, was focused on the signing of an agreement to fund the building of a high-speed rail (HSR) link between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The railway - the Japanese call it "Shinkansen" - will have access to a soft Japanese loan of $12-15 billion at a concessional rate of interest, 0.1 per cent. Many have pointed out that this is the wrong priority for India's railways, which are still to meet the basic needs of passengers in most parts of the country. Regular inter-city travel is not yet as fast as it should be. A bullet train, certainly looks like Indian Railways is putting the cart before the horse. In defence of the train, however, it could be argued that the bulk of the funding is on soft terms; if the financial burden works out to be minimal, then, as a best case, the train could help integrate the relatively affluent western corridor as one large economic zone.
It is to be remembered that such trains compete mainly with air travel. What will the fares look like? Rather than in high-cost Japan, the best comparison will be with the Beijing-Shanghai superfast train - one of only three profitable HSR legs, of dozens worldwide - which costs 555 yuan for a distance of 1,318 kilometres. The yuan is Rs 10.40 at the moment; so the cost to passengers is Rs 4.40 a km. Assuming - a big assumption - that the cost per km is the same on the shorter (530 km) Mumbai-Ahmedabad run, the cheapest second-class ticket would be just over Rs 2,300. Air tickets on this leg are just over Rs 3,000; so if costs are kept down as has been assumed, the train would be competitive - as long as it took only an hour or so more than the flight, and departed from the city centres. Additionally, the train would serve Surat and Vadodara, and also intermediate stations like Anand, Bharuch and Valsad, which are poorly served by air. And if the line is successful, it could be extended later to Pune; the Mumbai end should thus be planned not as a terminus but a hub.
Other notable aspects of the agreements signed by Mr Abe and Prime Minister Narendra Modi include a memorandum of understanding on civil nuclear co-operation, and the "commitment to continue discussions" on defence matters. The nuclear deal is still not done and dusted; it can only be signed once Japanese domestic objections are overcome, and that is still some time away. No specific technological collaborations were announced; in fact, hopes that this summit would see substantially firmer news about the possible purchase by India of Japanese-made US-2 amphibious aircraft - which would be Japan's first weapons sale for half a century - were dashed.