The Battle to Build India’s First Bullet Train

Why India's high-speed rail project is so slow.

This video contains paid promotion for Bluebeam.

Additional footage and imagery courtesy of National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), Japan International Cooperation Agency, Al Jazeera, CBS Mornings, CNN, DW News, Herrenknecht AG, Jay Baid, Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited, Municipal Corporation Greater Mumbai, NewsX, PERI SE / Mike Wolfsteiner, Soumith Soman and Vinod Sharma.

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[Cookiek]

As someone who has travelled from mumbai to surat several times by car and train I can tell you that this high speed train is greatly needed! The country is grinding to a halt slowly!

[foxbat]

Well done India so much love from Zimbabwe 🇿🇼

[sadenb]

All projects are important in India. As an Indian, I can say India needs many solutions. No one solution is good enough for all sections of the society. We need to have conventional railways which are being upgraded, we need separate freight corridors which are also being constructed, we need high speed rail as well as high speed expressways. The population and the scale of the problem demands all.

[patrickrodriguez]

Japan has been helping us in the Philippines with our transportation projects as well. Cheers from the PH! I hope India succeeds!

[MrMattie]

"Other nearby nations", shows Japan.
I think people often forget the scale of Asia. Japan is 4.000km from India.
That's like saying Belgium is nearby Canada, which is also about 4.000km :D

[TJSaw]

The best thing about this is that it’s the legendary Shinkansen system coming to India. The OG bullet train with the most ridership overall and zero accidents to date. Japan is helping india in HSR and India is helping Japan in its space program. A win-win for both nations.

[joermnyc]

The high speed network becoming popular reduces strain on the slower network, which would allow for major repairs and replacement projects.

[mrklv]

Still India will have its first high speed rail line before the US

[AndrewWatts]

Another excellent segment, I did note the metric was in the American Imperial system with "miles" but India uses kilometers like the rest of planet Earth.

[riouchiha]

Land acquisition is main problem for the development in india. Plus, environmentalists, politicians will always knock your door whenever any construction. start.

[EvergreenConsultancy]

As an Indian I can confirm you that this project will boost the economy..
This project paper work started a decade ago.

[nmu]

Good video. Being an Indian and having traveled across Europe in HS rail, I would say this project is of absolute necessity to elevate the economy to the next level.

Today, the middle class in India travel mostly through flights, thanks to govt schemes like UDAN and airlines like Indigo which have brought people out of victorian rail system.

So, when the HS rail network is up and running, we will have plenty of takers for it, don't forget that both Gujarat and Maharashtra have enormously wealthy and tenacious individuals who would love to travel in bullet trains.

As regards to the delay in construction, it must be attributed to our judicial system which is slow and often populist. But we are developing and we will have a full HSR network by 2040.

[ColeSpolaric]

In a country of over a billion people, i don't think they'll have a problem with 50 million riders a year

[cherryslat]

China and especially Japan built their own railways based on what they know they need with routes serving their major population centres. India's railway was built by the British to link resource centres with factories and ports, completely ignoring civilian train networks. Since 1947 India has had to readapt this rail system based on resource and wealth extraction to serve them and their people instead of an extractive foreign power. This definitely makes it harder for them but it is good to see it is going well.

[yorisingrango]

One thing you didn't mention was that cost of upgrading older tracks is quite high due to enroachment and oversaturation.

[Amuzic_Earth]

Indian railway networks are not "Aging" as you have mentioned...the overcrowded clips that you keep showing are all from a single city's local network, which is Mumbai local trains, which is what is aging..The national network has seen massive upgradation in recent years, which includes almost doubling of electrification(it's 85%+ now), automation of signalling systems both hardware and softwarewise, continuous upgradation of railway coaches from older ICF to LHBs and now the newer Vandebharat rakes(which you showed only one cropped image), building two dedicated freight corridors, continuous upgradation of tracks to make it suitable for semi high speed trains Of course, just like the country of India, there are several layers in the railway system too and it's impossible to bring changes to everything at changing one layer is equal to an overhaul of a mid size country....but all you keep showing is the mumbai locals...because it suits the image that matches with the perception when you hear India as a foreigner.

[oldmonk.]

Indian railways carry load of population equal to collective population of USA + Australia+ England etc.
Just because of some accident you can't defame efforts & management of Indian railways, yes India is improving infrastructure but just because of railways entire nation runs daily ❤

[rupanjan]

The stock footages used in this video is old because most of IR rake now has red LHB livery not the blue ICF ones. Plus good job on choosing footage of only general class coaches.

[Alexrocksdude_]

Glad India is making solid progress on HSR. Its not something that can be done quickly and carelessly so I am patiently awaiting the end result. Good video covering this topic!

[Boldtruths]

When metro was coming to India people opppsed that also.
As an Indian I admit we are slow in adapting to changes.
BULLET TRAIN Will be the game changer.