VOL. XL NO. 40 PAGES 40
` 8.00
NEW DELHI 02- 08 JANUARY 2016
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016
BULLET TRAINS
SPEEDING UP INDIA’S JOURNEY INTO THE FUTURE
Vijay Kumar Dutt
H
igh speed in Indian Railways is at present limited to 150 KMPH. However, in many other
countries the speed of Railways is of the order of
200 KM per hour (KMPH). In France, Japan,
Germany, China, Spain and South Korea high
speed traction above 280 KMPH has been introduced. India and Japan have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 12th December,
2015 on cooperation and assistance in the
Mumbai–Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (HSR)
Project referred to by many as ‘Bullet Train
Project’. Japan has offered an assistance of over
Rs. 79,000 crore for the project. The loan is for a
period of 50 years with a moratorium of 15 years,
at an interest rate of 0.1 per cent. The project is a
508-kilometre Railway line costing a total of Rs
97,636 crore, to be implemented in a period of
seven years. It has been agreed that for the
Mumbai – Ahmedabad HSR Project. Japan’s
Shinkansen Technology, known for its speets reliability and safety, will be adopted. Transfer of technology and “Make in India” will be essential part of
this assistance package. Japan will also assist
India in training of personnel for HSR.’ The two
countries have also entered into two comprehensive technological cooperation agreements on 11th
Decmber 2015, for modernization and upgradation
of Indian railways. These agreements have been
signed during the official visit to India of His
Excellency Mr. Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of
Japan, during December 11-13, 2015.
Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Mr
Narendra Modi said the decision to introduce High
Speed Rail on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector
through the Japan’s Shinkansen is no less historic.
He said “We greatly appreciate Prime Minister
Abe's extraordinary package of approximately 12
billion U.S. dollars and technical assistance, on
very easy terms, for this project.This enterprise will
launch a revolution in Indian railways and speed up
India’s journey into the future. It will become an
engine of economic transformation in India.”
With this significant development, the stage is all
set for acceleration of commissioning of Indian
High Speed Rail Project which has been in various
stages of planning during the last one decade.
Indian Railways Vs Road Transport
Indian Railways is an energy efficient mode of
Transportation in our country. Energy consumed by
railways is one sixth of corresponding energy consumed by road transport. At the same
time Railways in India now run Primarily on electricity which can be derived from modes other
than oil including New and Renewable energy
sources like wind and solar. Keeping in view
the global oil crisis, and India’s dependence
on imports for crude oil, Indian Railways is an
ideal means of transportation.
Railways use one third of the ‘Right of Way’
as compared to the Road. This is another
useful factor for our populous country where land
scarcity will always be an issue.
The Rail Coefficient ( percentage of use of Rail)
of passengers as well as freight which stands at
about 10 percent and 35 percentat present is
declining as less capacity has been added to the
Rail Sector. Increasing Rail Coefficient by expanding capacity is in wider national interest.
Indian Railways is the third largest railway network in the world with 7,083 railway stations,
Continued on page 39
JOB HIGHLIGHTS
CAREER IN BORDER ROADS ORGANIZATION
MES
K.L. Noatay
Military Engineer Services invites
applications for recruitment of 480
Group ‘C’ posts.
Last Date : 13.02.2016 (pg 27-31)
NTPC
NTPC Ltd. requires 177 Engineering
Executive Trainees through GATE2016
Last Date : 29.01.2016
(pg 4)
COD
Central Ordnance Depot, Agra
requires 113 Material Assistant,
Tradesman Mate, Fireman etc.
Last Date : 21 Days after the
publication
(pg 9)
Turn over the pages for other vacancies
in Banks, Armed Forces, Railways,
PSUs and other Govt. Deptts.
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B
order Roads Organization is a multifaceted, modern
construction Organisation committed to meeting the
strategic needs of the armed forces. Its role is to develop
and maintain the operational road infrastructure in border
areas and it also contributes to the socio-economic development of the border states. It was raised in 1960 to
carve roads through difficult Himalayas in North-Western
and North-Eastern border areas of the country. Though
for basic purpose it is a road constructing civil engineering organization –task-function-wise similar to Central
and or State PWDs -- yet in
overall effect its role is akin to
that of Corps of Engineers of
the Indian Army. It constructs
and maintains roads in virgin
areas where other civil engineering
works-executing
agencies are unable to operate. The officers, supervisors
and men required for maintaining this Force are drawn
partly from the Armed Forces,
especially Corps of Engineers,
and partly enrolled/enlisted from open market exclusively
for this Force. A few officers, especially doctors, are
drawn from Indian Air Force and the Navy also. The
troops enrolled exclusively for manning functions of this
organization are collectively known as General Reserve
Engineer Force, or ‘GREF’. The personnel drawn from
other defence forces are considered on normal military
duty. In other words while the phrase ‘Border Roads
Organization’ stands for the department as a whole,
‘GREF’ is the name of the collective body of the former’s
whole-time regular employees, recruited,maintained and
deployed , exclusively on execution of BRO’s projects /
works only. The technical head of the organization, located at New Delhi, named as Director General Border
Roads, is a Lt. General from Corps of Engineers. The
organization is a potential employer not only for technically qualified/ trained professionals but also for semiskilled and unskilled youths having aptitude for outdoor
life.
Setup of Units
The lower most independent working unit in BRO is called
Road Construction Company,
or ‘RCC’. Like a Division of the
provincial PWD, an RCC is
commanded by an officer of
the rank of Executive Engineer
or Major. It comprises of functional platoons like ‘Formation
Cutting Platoon’ for cutting new
roads; ‘Permanent Works
Platoon’ for construction of culverts, retaining and breast
walls, drains and parapets,
etc.; ‘Surfacing Platoon’ for
metalling the driveway and
‘Road Maintenance Platoon’
for keeping the finished roads in good repairs. These platoons are placed under the charge of a Platoon Officer of
the rank of Assistant Executive Engineer or a Captain,
who reports to the Officer Commanding RCC for all executives, administrative and financial matters. A few RCCs
make a Border Roads Task Force, or ‘BRTF’, which is like
a Circle of the provincial PWD or an Engineer Regiment
of the Army. Earlier Task Force(s) used to be commanded by a Superintending Engineer or a Colonel of Corps of
Engrs. A few BRTFs put together form a BRO Project. A
Project is commanded by a Chief Engineer of GREF or a
Continued on page 40
Employment News
2 - 8 January 2016
BULLET TRAINS
Continued from page 1
1,31,205 railway bridges,
9000 locomotives, 51,030
passenger coaches, 2,19,931
freight cars and 63,974 route
kilometers. Today it operates
19,000 trains every day, comprising 12,000 passenger
trains and 7,000 freight
trains. It transports 2.65 million tonnes of freight traffic
and 23 million passengers
every day and 7.2 billion passengers per year. It currently
has 1.36 million employees
and an annual revenue base
of Rs.1,64,374 crores as projected on March 31,2015.
Railways can potentially
contribute an additional 1.5%
to 2% to GDP. Thus,
Modernisation of Railways
is essential to attain goals
of
National
progress.
Introduction of High Speed
Railways is an important step
in this direction.
Technology Options
In High Speed Traction,
basically two distinct technology streams have developed(a) Steel Wheels on Rails
Technology and (b) Magnetic
Levitation
Linear
Motor
Technology. In Steel Wheel
on Rail technology maximum
development has taken place.
A high speed record of 550
KmPH was achieved by
SNCF(French Railway). In
Magnetic levitation Linear
Motor Technology, combined
with levitation by Electro
Magnetic method is achieved.
First commercial service on
this Technology was introduced in China between
Shanghai and Shanghai
Airport in 2004. Japan operates two independently developed maglev trains. One is
HSST (and its descendant,
the Linimo line) by Japan
Airlines and the other, which
is more well-known, is SC
Maglev by the Central Japan
Railway Company. In Japan
latest Shinkansen line is
being constructed on this
technology.
In line with global trends,
the First Indian High Speed
Rail Project between Mumbai
and Ahmedabad is proposed
on conventional Steel wheel
on Rail technology.
Present Status of high
Speed Traction Globally
France was the first
European country to construct a high-speed rail line
(the Paris- LyonLine, which
opened in 1981). Since its
creation, the TGV network
has been regularly extended
to cover 1,840 km. In
Germany, the total length of
the ICE High speed network
is 1330 km. Initially, ICE
trains were travelling at
250km/h but the project KölnFrankfurt is the very first real
high-speed line dedicated to
passenger traffic for the
speed of 300 km/h. In Spain
between 2003 and 2008, the
AVE network was extended
to Malaga, Valladolid and
Barcelona. The Spanish High
speed Corridor is at present
3100 km making it the largest
in Europe and the maximum
speed is 310 km/h.
In Japan, first high-speed
train corridor (the Tokaido
Shinkansen, from Tokyo to
Osaka) was created in 1964.
Since then, Japanese rail
network has experienced a
phenomenal growth with the
opening of 7 Shinkansen corridors; each line has its own
name (Tokaido, Tohoku etc.),
and each type of train is identified by a name (Nozomi,
Hikari etc.). The actual
Shinkansen network is more
than 2000 km long. The
development of further lines
has been authorised, of
which 500 km are currently
under construction.
China's first very highspeed rail line was opened in
August 2008, linking Beijing
South Railway Station to
Tianjin,
where
sporting
events were held during the
Olympic Games.
The construction of highspeed railways in China
began with the building of the
Qinhuangdao–Shenyang
High-Speed Railway in 1999.
Now the high-speed rail network in China is the largest in
the world.
Indian Scenario
In India, Railways have
adopted two pronged strategy to increase the speed on
existing Corridors. This strategy is in line with most other
High Speed Rail operating
countries like China, France,
Japan and South Korea.The
Maximum speed of passenger trains would be raised
from 110 or 130 kmph at
present to 160-200 kmph.
Building
High
Speed
Corridors:
Indian Railways propose to
invest in developing high
speed corridors of 250 to 350
kmph speed. Already six corridors have been identified. It is
expected that the high speed
executed rail corridor will
become a catalyst for India’s
economic growth, a stimulus
for the development of satellite towns and reduction of
migration to metropolises. It is
proposed to set up a National
High Speed Rail Authority for
planning, standard setting,
implementing and monitoring
these projects.
Research in India on High
Speed Traction
Two important components
of Indo-Japanese agreements
signed on 12th December,
2015 are cooperation in
Research and Development
in High Speed and Related
Fields of Rail technology. The
main emphasis for our country (which is fortunate to have
a large railway network that
will help us fight the Climate
Change Challenge) should be
on development of Know how
and Know why in the field to
become ultimately the net
exporter of Rail technology. In
this regard, the importance of
these agreements is even
more than that of the High
Speed Rail Construction
agreement.
Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) on technological cooperation between Research Design
and Standards Organization, India
and Railway Technical Research
Institute, Japan will pave way for
(i) Safety in train operation; (ii)
Advanced techniques of maintenance; (iii) Use of environment
friendly
technologies;
(iv)
Throughput enhancement measures; and (v) Any other area jointly agreed upon by the Parties.
Memorandum of Cooperation
(MoC) between the Ministry of
land, infrastructure, transport
and tourism of Japan and the
www.employmentnews.gov.in
39
WEN 40/A
Ministry of Railways of the
Republic of India on technological cooperation in rail sector
include technology exchange
programme in (a) Railway safety; (b) Rolling stock including
train sets/EMU; (c) Information
sharing for station development
and land value capture; (d)
Information sharing for environment friendly sanitation technology in trains (e) Signaling
and telecommunication; (f)
Railway electrification; (g) Civil
structure and railway track system; (h) Train control system; (i)
Mitigation of natural disasters;
and (j) Any other areas jointly
determined by both sides within
the scope of this MoC.
In India, traditionally various
Research Institutes like IIT
BHU, IIT Kharagpur, etc are
engaged in Research in these
areas. These agreements may
provide a new much needed
fillip to these activities.
Various Studies on Mumbai
Ahmedabad High Speed
Rail Corridor
Prior to the detailed study
by Japanese experts, railways had commissioned the
Systra-Rites-Italferr consortium to conduct an international review of market scenario
of
High
Speed
Passenger Railway for feasibility study for Pune-MumbaiAhmedabad High Speed
Corridor. The study has found
the project as feasible.
The average construction
cost per kilometre of double
track line comes between Rs.
76 to 84 cr depending on
alignment option. The lower
costs of manpower and civil
structures in India compared
to Europe explain the reduc-
tion in construction costs by
30-40 per cent compared to
similar European projects.
Pros & Cons of High
Speed Trains in India
There has been criticism of
this project from several quarters that India cannot afford to
spend such a large amount of
Rs. 97,636 crore on bullet
train
from
Mumbai
to
Ahmedabad. However, one
should know that this amount
is to be spent over a period of
seven
years.
Secondly,
almost 80% of the project is
being financed on a very soft
loan from Japan. Rs. 79,000
crore offered by Japan is to
be repaid over 50 years at an
interest rate of 0.1 percent
per year. Further, the loan
comes with a 15-year moratorium which means that India
does not need to start repaying the loan immediately.
A loan at an interest 0.1 percent to be repaid over 50
years essentially means
almost no interest is being
charged. Moreover, in 50
years time, the project will also
start generating some revenue. In effect, the Japanese
government is giving a loan to
the Indian government at
almost zero percent interest,
in order to be able to buy technology from Japanese company Shinkansen.
Once these factors are
taken into account, the bullet
train project between Mumbai
and Ahmedabad will not be a
drain on the government
finances. By cutting down the
journey time across the country in a climate friendly way,
the project will unleash the
true potential of young India
and will be a corner stone in
our journey towards inclusive
progress.
By
improving
Research & Development
and Manufacturing in this
field, where India has the
largest presence in the
World, we will be poised to
become net exporter of Rail
Technology to the world.
Bullet trains would provide
big boost to Indian Railways
with advanced safety, technology transfer, skill development and huge influx of
resources.
(The author was in Indian
Railway Service of Electrical
Engineers (IRSEE). He had
been Additional Member
(Electrical) Railway Board)
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