Is there deliberate misinformation on Bullet Trains? asks Suresh Prabhu

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on April 27 wondered in Lok Sabha whether there was a “deliberate misinformation” campaign against the introduction of bullet trains, saying these were not in conflict with the ‘normal’ trains. Responding to a series of questions during Question Hour on slow speed of trains, he wondered whether there was a “deliberate misinformation” being spread that bullet trains and ‘normal trains’ were at conflict.

He clarified that funds for the proposed bullet train will come from Japan. He suggested that the technology to be used for bullet trains will come in handy for improving the services of normal trains and that the integration of signalling, tracks and availability of rolling stock would help enhance train speed.

The minister said once the dedicated freight corridor comes up, the load of goods trains will go down from the Kolkata-Delhi trunk route, the busiest in the world. Prabhu said the work done on dedicated freight corridor in a year was more than what had been done in the last six years, adding that the Prime Minister was also monitoring its progress.

Yesterday too while replying to a debate on the rail budget, Prabhu had brushed aside criticism of the proposal to introduce expensive bullet trains, saying the government has managed to secure a soft loan of Rs 1 lakh crore from Japan at an interest as low as 0.1 per cent for a period of 50 years.