Yahoo – AFP,
Jalees ANDRABI, September 13, 2017
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| India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan's Shinzo Abe shake hands in front of a Shinkansen bullet train during a 2016 meeting in Kobe (AFP Photo/JIJI PRESS) |
New Delhi
(AFP) - As India's premier Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo
Abe prepare to break ground on the country's first bullet train project
Thursday, experts say the collaboration could signal a massive leap for its
overburdened and deadly railways.
India's
colonial-era rail network carries some 22 million passengers daily, making it
one of the busiest in the world. But it is also among the most dangerous.
A
government report published in 2012 said almost 15,000 people were killed every
year in rail accidents, describing the deaths as an annual "massacre"
due mainly to poor safety standards.
Modi has
pledged to invest billions of dollars to modernise the country's crumbling
railway infrastructure, which is plagued by delays, and the bullet train was
one of his key election promises ahead of a landslide victory in 2014.
As New
Delhi and Tokyo seek to forge closer ties to combat China's growing regional
influence, the project offers a diplomatic and economic boost.
The
premiers will lay the foundation for the bullet train network in the western
city of Ahmedabad -- connecting Modi's home state of Gujarat with India's
financial capital Mumbai.
Japan is a
pioneer in high-speed rail transport -- with its Shinkansen bullet train ranked
among the fastest in the world.
With
projected top speeds of up to 350 kilometres (217 miles) an hour -- more than
double the maximum speed offered by the fastest trains operating in India -- it
will reduce travel time between the two cities from eight hours to at most
three-and-a-half hours.
The new
train, which will have a capacity of 750 passengers, is also expected to be
safer than the country's creaking rail network, the world's fourth largest by
distance.
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Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (right) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
visit
Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, on September 13, 2017 (AFP Photo/
PRAKASH SINGH)
|
'Balance
China's hegemony'
Modi
recently replaced his railway minister after a series of derailments, including
one last month in which at least 23 people were killed in northern Uttar
Pradesh state. Nearly 150 died in a similar accident in November.
The
agreement for the 508-kilometre network was signed in 2016, with plans to make
it operational by December 2023.
Nearly 85
percent of the total project cost of $19 billion will be provided by Tokyo in
soft loans, with repayment over 50 years.
Abe's visit
to Ahmedabad comes ahead of Modi's 67th birthday on Sunday and many have dubbed
it as part of his practice of "birthday diplomacy".
The
right-wing Hindu nationalist leader hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in
Gujarat on his birthday in 2014.
"India's
relation with Japan is designed to balance China's hegemony," Rajrishi
Singhal, a Mumbai-based independent policy consultant, told AFP.
 |
India's
crumbling rail infrastructure is in desperate need of modernisation, with
a
report in 2012 describing the 15,000 deaths on the network each year as a
'massacre'
(AFP Photo)
|
The two
countries have close security ties and hold regular joint military exercises.
A proposed
joint investment of billions of dollars in Africa is set to be the cornerstone
of the relationship, Singhal said.
"India
truly values the relationship with Japan and we look forward to further
boosting our bilateral ties in a wide range of sectors," Modi tweeted
Tuesday.
There are
more than 1,500 Japanese companies in India, including auto major Suzuki, the
largest car maker in the country.
The success
of Suzuki and others transformed India's auto industry, which employs millions
today.
Experts are
pinning similar hopes on the bullet train project.
"Just
like Suzuki changed India's car market and brought millions of jobs, the bullet
train will change the entire industry," Singhal said.
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