Agra railway engineer returns after training on bullet trains in Japan

Social media is abuzz with rumours that the bullet train network between Ahmedabad and Mumbai will be maintained by Japanese engineers. However, that is not true.

The network will be maintained by Indian engineers further generating more railway jobs.

Recently, an Agra railway engineer finished his bullet train training and he has returned from Japan.

After returning from Tokyo, Japan, having finished the 15 days of training on bullet train operations, Senior Divisional Safety Officer of Agra Railway Division Yogesh Mittal told India Today that the bullet train operates more or less like the metro train, with the main distinction being speed.

He said that 40 Indian Railway engineers were given the training of Bullet Train Technology from 4th - 15th September in Tokyo, in which safety was the primary issue.

Yogesh said that these engineers also rode the bullet train with the Japanese officials as the engineers wanted to gain detailed information about the railway track technology being used in bullet trains.

He said that in the 55 years of operational history since 1964, there has been no accident involving the the Japanese bullet trains, mainly because most of the train technology is automated with minimal human interference. Keeping this in mind, the new railway track will be laid in India and the control system will be upgraded.

EARTHQUAKES DON'T AFFECT BULLET TRAINS

Yogesh said that even the devastating earthquake of 2011 could not affect the bullet train network as the tracks of the network have been laid with earthquake resistant technology.

Similar technology will be used in India too.

NEED FOR SPEED

Yogesh said that the bullet train passengers will be given all modern facilities in the train as well as well as on the railway stations.

The Japanese company that will oversee the project of setting up the first bullet train network in India will also establish a training center for Indian engineers.

He said that while India is bringing bullet trains that run at a maximum speed of 350 kmph, Japanese engineers are researching on Maglev trains running at 600 kmph and more.

PM MODI VS NECESSITY

As much as it is talked about, the truth is that the bullet train project is not getting the reception PM Modi may have expected just two years before.

A vast section of the media, as well as the common people, are questioning the need for an extravagant project like a bullet train in India, when the country's existing railway network is in dire need for an upgrade.

DERAILMENTS, CONNECTIVITY, GLITCHES, AND MONEY

Social activist Vishal Sharma said that no year passes when people don't die in train accidents in India.

No track on the Indian Railway network can be called completely safe, in fact, trains are derailing even more as the time passes and the railways is blaming the lack of funding to facilitate the desperately needed upgradation and maintenance of the network.

Railway stations are being privatised because the railways' claims it doesn't have the funds to operate them.

Trains are not running on schedule due to technical deficiencies and lack of funds.

It is surprising that in such a condition when the Indian Railways, which was once called the 'Pride of India' and the 'Biggest Employer of India' is so cash-strapped, the Indian government is going ahead with such extravagance of setting up a parallel bullet train network on an already well-connected corridor like Mumbai-Ahmadabad.

He said that instead of spending billions of dollars on something that will only benefit a very selected section of the society which has enough surplus cash to make the expensive journey in a bullet train, the government should have thought more in the direction of improving the state of Indian Railways and devised ways to prevent the huge number of deaths that occur yearly in India due to train accidents.