Barun Roy: Trains on the fast track

ASIA FILE

We don't have to worry about train speeds "" our fastest completes 700 kms in eight hours

Having given the world its first track-based bullet train "" the Tokaido Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka, launched in October 1964 "" and run it with an impeccable record of safety for over four decades, Japan is now aiming to build its fastest.

East Japan Railway, or JR East, which singly provides almost half of all railway transportation in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area and operates five bullet lines between Tokyo and other major cities on Honshu, has begun trials on a test train designed for an operational speed of 360 km an hour.

Named "Fastech 360" after its targeted speed, the sleek green-and-white, eight-car prototype has a 52-ft-long locomotive shaped like a dolphin's head and will be tested over the next two years.

If the tests work out well, the new trains could enter service by 2011. They will be quieter than all other Japanese bullet trains, so the developers claim, and smoother, steadier, and safer.

But the significance of this project goes beyond just the speed. "Fastech 360," JR East points out, is capable actually of reaching an even higher limit, 405 kph, entering the speed zone in which "maglevs," or magnetic levitation trains, operate.

Shanghai's "maglev,' for instance, has a top speed of 431 kph and averages 300. Since "maglevs", being commercially marketed by German firms, are costly, the Fastech capability would certainly give Japan a huge global competitive advantage. The 31-km Shanghai line cost $1.1 billion to build.

A "maglev" for the proposed 1,307-km Beijing-Shanghai high-speed would cost upward of $28 billion, against some $16 billion otherwise. If there is now a technology that can deliver near-"maglev" speed on traditional, non-levitated trains at a fraction of its cost, nations would be inclined to go for the less-costly alternative.

A trail-blazing use of the Japanese shinkansen (bullet train) technology is seen in a super high-speed railway project in Taiwan linking Taipei and Kaohsiung. The 345-km line, running along the island's western coast, should be ready by October 2006. Trains will have a top speed of 300 kph and cover the distance in about 90 minutes, against four to six hours required by conventional trains.

Japan is using the Taiwan project, its first export of the shinkansen technology, as a calling card to lobby for the Beijing-Shanghai bullet. In this effort it's pitted against Germany's Transrapid International, a Siemens-ThyssenKrupp consortium, and France's Alstom.

In the end it'll most likely be a political decision on the part of the Chinese, but two things are in Japan's favour: the Shanghai "maglev" hasn't been a financial success, so Beijing would weigh things carefully before settling on another "maglev", and Japan's experience in building and running track-hugging bullet trains is without parallel.

China is in the midst of a brave new era of high-speed railway transportation, which is why the world's speed masters are all looking so keenly at this market. Early this month, an electric train with a design speed of 270 kph was introduced for commercial operation between Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, and Shanhaiguan in Hebei.

Lines between Shanghai and Nanjing are being upgraded for a top speed of 200 kph to complete the 300-km run in an hour and 50 minutes. A high-speed line between Beijing and Tianjin will be ready by June 2008, designed to cover the 115 km distance in half an hour.

A project has also been launched, and will be completed by the end of 2010 at a total cost of over $14 billion, to establish a 989 km high-speed link between Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, and Guangzhou. This project is significant because, for the first time, China is going to allow foreign investors to participate in developing its railway infrastructure.

Beijing intends to spend at least $12 billion a year for the next ten years to modernise its railways and had earlier passed legislation to permit domestic private investors to get involved. If foreign private capital is also allowed, the modernisation effort is bound to pick up an even greater speed.

South Korea is another Asian nation that equates train speed with economic progress. The Korea Train Express (KTX) that went into service in March 2004 traverses the 410 km distance between Seoul and Busan in 2 hours and 40 minutes.

When new tracks are laid by 2010, travel time will be cut even further, to 1 hour and 54 minutes. It's possible for anyone to reach anywhere in the country within half a day by mixing KTX with other means of transportation. It's therefore also possible for industry to locate almost anywhere.

Thank heavens in India we don't have to worry about train speeds. Our fastest train, the New Delhi-Bhopal Janshatabdi Express, is able to complete its 700 km journey in eight hours. Looked against bullock carts, isn't that already a "maglev"?