We are constantly advancing in our technologies. It is our hard work that we have been able to create new records in terms of travel speed. It has been the case in each and every type of travel mode be it rail, road or air. Among all of this, China has been one of the major competitors in terms of rail network. It has the fastest trains in the world in terms of railway network. In this particular category, Chinese are gaining momentum in terms of ranking. The rest of the countries who are in the top ten ranking are constantly feeling the heat.
Recently, China has created history by launching the fastest train in the world named Maglev. It has reached the speed of 600 kmph. It is a train which uses the technology of magnetic levitation so, hence the name. It has been constantly developing its rail network in terms of faster trains and better networks. It is giving tough competition to other developed countries which have been trying to beat it at any cost continuously.
This new train network in China has some advantages over the older technologies. It has been designed in such a way that it is capable of travelling with up to ten cars. It will be spacious enough for over 100 passengers. It is being said that the train is capable of creating less sound pollution and it is also expected to be economical. It has been introduced in order to fill the gap of mid-range train travel of up to 1500 km. It was first shown to the world in 2019 as a prototype.
Now let’s take a look at some of the countries with world’s fastest train networks.
- China – 350km/h
- Japan – 320 km/h
- France – 320km/h
- Spain – 310km/h
- South Korea – 305 km/h
- Germany – 300km/h
- Italy – 300km/h
- United Kingdom – 300km/h
- Turkey – 300 km/h
- Sweden – 205 km/h
After having a look at all of the above things, we can take a peek at Indian Railways situation. Passenger Railways was introduced in India by the British people in the year 1853. Since then, we have come a long way. Now we have fully air-conditioned trains. About 71% of the broad-gauge tracks has been converted into electric from diesel. The Indian Railways have even decided to replace all the sleeper class coaches into air-conditioned coaches which will be charged a bit less that the 3-tier AC(air- conditioned). If done, then it will be cheapest AC train travel in the world. But in case of fast trains, we have been a bit behind than the rest of the world. But now the government is putting some efforts in terms of the introduction of bullet train in our country. It will be first introduced between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Apart from this we also have Vande Bharat express trains, introduced in 2019, which is running at 180 kmph and Tejas Express, introduced in 2017, running at 200km/h.In the year 2016,India also introduced a train named Gatimaan Express which still runs and has a highest recorded speed of 160km/h. Previously, India had 2 special categories of trains called Rajdhani express and Shatabdi express. They still run but are not the fastest anymore. But they are preferred for their special status and good service. Rajdhani was introduced in India in the year 1969 and Shatabdi was introduced in 1988.
Apart from fast trains, the Indian Railways is also trying to make sure that the comfort and entertainment factor of the passengers is also taken good care of. For this they have introduced trains like Vistadome trains in the year 2021 and LHB (Linke-Hofmann-Busch) coaches in the year 2000. There is also a point which is to be noted that in the year 2000 the LHB coaches which were introduced were not indigenous. The indigenous LHB coaches were introduced in 2003 based on German technology. Additionally, services like RailWire WiFi have also been introduced in the year 2015 to provide internet connectivity at railway stations. This service was formulated through RailTel and Google partnership. Initially it provided free WiFi but now the service is not free anymore. Google is true in pointing out the fact that due to cheaper data rates, the internet connectivity is easily available in our country, (all thanks to Reliance Jio).
Right now, the Indian government is focused on introducing Bullet train in the country. So, we will have to wait and see that how well they will perform in our country.
By: Raunak Jha
