O J’s Corner


High-speed rail-road corridor:
No trivialisation please!

It was amusing exercise to watch performances on television and go through certain writings in the print media regarding the high-speed rail-road corridor mooted by P J Joseph, who has made it clear that it could better be implemented in whatever nomenclature the Government pleases,, like Jammu-Kanyakumari corridor.

One should not trivialise this project as something the Railway Ministry should announce forthwith. Alas, the railway ministry does not have funds to undertake this multi-crore project. This should not be the refrain. There was over-enthusiasm on the part of very few analysts to browbeat this project as something dreamy and unachievable. Such people are living in the 19th century. They should understand the world is developing fast. We have to demand our share of the mega-bucks being spent elsewhere in the country for the same type of projects.

First of all, the Government of India has already taken a policy decision to go in for high-speed trains. Please read reports about the Union Cabinet having decided to go in for Mumbai-Delhi, Delhi-Kolkota stretches of freight and industrial corridors. It is estimated that the per km expenditure would be Rs 50 crore. Money is no problem for this. There are reports that the Delhi-Bangalore stretch is also on the anvil. Such projects are announced and implemented in the form of decisions by the Union Cabinet. Not more a moment, please think that the high-speed passenger corridor is to be a child of the railway ministry.

There is no relevance for questions like “what is your priority for this project?”, No project is a substitute for another. One cannot replace it with doubling, electrification, survey for new lines etc.

M N Prasad, former member of the Railway Board, was heard on a television channel as saying the high-speed passenger corridor would not be cost-effective. Who wants this as a passenger corridor? Let there be passenger trains and goods trains being operated on the proposed corridor. His opinion is not the last word, like those who want to travel fast should take to flights. Why not take the opinion of experts like E Sreedharan, who is a doer and not a cynic. He showed it to the world that projects depicted as impossible could be executed and operated. Let people probe the mind of this sparkling expert and technocrat. One should have seen the way he undertook construction work on the Delhi metro in busy roads and thoroughfares without inconveniencing anyone. Prasad could not have dreamt of undertaking this project by himself.

Golden Quadrilateral was not built on the premise of profit and loss. Nationally, 15,000 kms of four-lane roads were laid, spending nearly one lakh crore rupees. Kerala did not get even one km.

For the high-speed corridor, 15 metre-wide stretches are enough. Already the Railways have 60 per cent of the land with it. The rest can be acquired within one year, on fast-track basis, which has been underscored by P J Joseph.