Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail : why would anyone go from Mumbai to Ahmedabad by bullet train? A complete analysis with relevant data and figures

 Mumbai- Ahmedabad High Speed rail Project - A dream of many Indian Citizens.

I think I’m enough competent to answer this question as in recent workshop with the Industry experts from Germany, Italy, Singapore, Japan, Thailand and Malasiya organized by Asian Development Bank Institute we have analysed the most potential high speed rail routes in India and overseas and discussed on various parameters like Economic benefits, Environmental aspects, Challenges, stakeholder management, Engineering aspects, Multi-modal Integration, Asthetics, Reduction in Carbon footprints etc. I can share one of the snap of the discussion.

In the discussion, We have reviewed many reports on different high speed rails like Shinkansen, Intercity express, Trains à Grande Vitess, Alta Velocidad Española etc. Experts have come to the conclusion that the most competitiveness of HSR is high in distance from 500–700 km when compared to other modes of transportation like air, road etc while connecting two major cities and it will induce a shift of approximately 43% traffic from other modes and In case of Mumbai-Ahmedabad the distance is 508Km.

About the Fare, It has not been decided yet but as per Japan East railway’s Cost-benifit analysis it should not be less than 1.2 times the fare of first class AC or maybe equivalent to Air travel. As high speed rails is never profitable in terms of Financial Internal rate of return, but it is very much profitable in terms of Economic analysis. Economic impact in between Mumbai and Ahmedabad by sector and zones shown below.

Improvement in Quality of Life

Sensitivity analysis of Quality of life between Income classes

Quality of travel (Monetary Values)

As India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, It is expected to increase it's high income population in future and hence will experience enhanced benifits to HSR too. Maximum benifits will be enjoyed by smaller cities and towns between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

As Airplane travels at a speed of approx 900kmph while HSR will operate at 320kmph, Airplane has more speed, However high speed rails has not so much waiting time and has end to end connectivity while it is different in case of Air travel. You can see a win-win situation of Shinkansen with distance less than 600km in the below image.

Moreover, CO2 emissions from aviation is 9 times much higher than that of shinkansen. Here is the comparison of life cycle CO2 per passenger-Kilometer.

Hope now people will understand why HSR is beneficial for the economic growth and quality of life.

PS - Data credits to the respective study teams.