India lags in the world of high-speed rail, but there is hope

My first high-speed train experience was in the mid-1970s … on the big screen. I was still in school when the 1975 thriller The Bullet Train－in which a bomb is planted by a criminal gang and will explode if the train's speed is reduced－hit Indian cinemas. Audiences (me included) were floored by the speed of Japan's famed Shinkansen trains.

A nail-biting moment in the film－two high-speed trains running head-on avoid a catastrophic collision by switching tracks at the last moment－remains etched in my memory.

India has yet to see a high-speed train, though it did witness an aviation boom, thanks to the opening-up of the sector in 2002 and the launch of a low-cost airline in September 2003, which revolutionized flying in the country.

India will likely see its first high-speed train, in 2023, nearly 50 years after the release of The Bullet Train.

The Shinkansen, though, has been in existence in Japan since 1964.

Although China got it first high-speed train much later－in August 2008－it has the longest high-speed train network in the world, exceeding 30,000 kilometers by the end of this year.

It is now set to take the lead in speed, too.

A maglev train that China is planning can reach speeds of 600 kilometers per hour.

By comparison, the average speed of a commercial airliner is about 1,300 km/h.

A maglev train is a system that uses two sets of magnets－one to repel and push the train up off the track, and another to move the train forward, taking advantage of the lack of friction.

Interestingly, Tesla's Hyperloop is based on the same technology. The Hyperloop, a concept proposed by billionaire industrialist Elon Musk in the United States, involves a sealed tube or system of tubes through which a pod can travel free of air resistance to transport people at very high speeds.

Chinese cities are already in the maglev race, with Chengdu, Sichuan province, considering a maglev line with a top speed of 800 km/h to Chongqing.

It will cut travel time between the two cities to 30 minutes, down from one hour and 13 minutes on high-speed trains. Wuhan, Hubei province, has also set its sights on the maglev.

For sheer speed, the Japanese maglev clocked 575 km/h－faster than those in operation in Shanghai, which run at 430 to 500 km/h－and one in the Republic of Korea, which travels at 110 km/h.

Meanwhile, India's first high-speed train, which Japan is helping to build, is expected to start running between the cities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad. It will clock speeds of about 320 km/h covering the 534 kilometers between the two cities in two hours. The project has not had a smooth run so far, having been beset by land acquisition problems.

India did come up with its own version of a fast train, which at 160 km/h, is said to be its fastest, but nowhere near a Shinkansen or a Chinese high-speed train.

The high-speed rail network will see new players soon, with Indonesia planning to build Southeast Asia's first high-speed line. Laos is expected to complete its project by the end of 2021. Vietnam, which first rejected the project as too expensive, is reconsidering the construction of a high-speed rail link between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.