New Delhi: In a country where train running at a speed of 50km/hour has no guarantee of reaching the destination safely, preparations are being made to run bullet trains which runs at a speed of above 300 km/hour!

In a country, where tracks are unable to handle the speed of 50km/hour, preparations are being made to built tracks that will have to handle the speed above 300km/hour!

Indore-Patna Express was running on 50km/hour, then its 14 coaches derailed and more than 100 people died. Sunday's incident is bone chilling.

Obviously, the bullet trains will have separate tracks but will be run by same Indian Railways which presently seems unable to put a check on accidents.

Nearly two-and-a-half years back, PM Narendra Modi promised to bring bullet trains in India which are the pride of China and Japan.

On November 12, PM Modi went to Japan and took a ride on a bullet train along with the PM of Japan Shinzō Abe.

 Image: PM Narendra Modi with PM of Japan Shinzō Abe (File Photo: Twitter)

On Sunday, Rajeev Shukla of Congress said reported ANI, “Unfortunate; we talk about running bullet trains when we are unable to run these safely, the judicial probe must be ordered”.

Congress VP Rahul Gandhi said-"PM gave speeches on bullet trains, why didn't he talk about maintenance of railway tracks and the safety".

Cost for bullet trains:

For bullet trains, the country will have pay huge cost. If between two cities, a bullet train will run, it will cost, reportedly, Rs 1 lakh crore. It is .5 lakh crore less than the health budget of India in 2015. [India's GDP in 2015 was 125.41 lakh crore; In 2015, India's health budget was, reportedly, 1.2% of the GDP (1.50 lakh crore approx)].

Rail Ministry is working on the diamond quadrilateral corridor for the bullet trains. The trains will be imported from Japan which will run at a speed of 350km/hour.

In many routes, work is being done like Delhi-Ahmedabad, Delhi-Varanasi. In Mumbai-Chennai and Delhi-Kolkata, the survey is being done.

PM Narendra Modi is making many changes in the country and under these circumstances, how can Railways be untouched?

Work on the bullet train corridor has to be completed by 2018. Will the Railways be accident proof by that time? Only the time will tell.

But accidents like these must be avoided at all cost.

LIST OF MAJOR RAIL ACCIDENTS IN 2016

  • 05 February 2016: 4 coaches of Kanyakumari-Bangalore City Express derailed near Vellore. Some injured.

  • 01 May 2016: Old Delhi-Faizabad Express derailed near Hapur. However, no causalities were reported.

  • 06 May 2016: Side collision for the Chennai Central - Thiruvananthapuram Central super-fast and a suburban train near Pattabiram. Seven injured in the accident.

  • 19 May 2016: Kanyakumari-Dibrugrah Vivek Express derailed near Nagercoil. No one killed.

  • 28 August 2016: 12 coaches of Train number 16347 Thiruvananthapuram Central - Mangalore Central Express derailed near Karukutty Station, Angamali around 2:20 am. No casualties reported.

  • 20 November 2016: At least 120 died after 14 coaches of Indore – Patna Express derailed.