No. 788: Japanese high-speed railway technology increases its presence in India (October 8, 2013)

Technology:

Tokaido Shinkansen and Mt. Fuji

Japan and India will conclude a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the joint feasibility study of the project that connects Mumbai and Ahmadabad by the high-speed railway. The MOU will be concluded between Indian National Railway and Japan International Cooperation Agency. The feasibility study will be an 18-month study with an investment of 500 million yen, which will be paid by Japan and India on a 50-50 basis. The distance between Mumbai and Ahmadabad is 543 km, and the high-speed train will shorten the travel time from the present eight hours to three hours. The project is estimated at about 1,000 billion yen, and the construction is expected to start in 2017. The line between Mumbai and Ahmadabad is the first of the seven high-speed railway lines that India plans.

The Japanese government set the export of infrastructure as one of the mainstays of the growth strategy. In alliance with Japan Railways, it emphasizes the package that integrates rolling stocks, operation system, management, and maintenance in its marketing activities. With the high-tech that realizes the ultra safety and super punctuality, it is making strenuously efforts to increase the presence of Japanese high-speed railway technology in Asia and the U.S. Although the Japanese packaged system seems to cost much, it will not be expensive in the long run. Foreigners are surprised to know that the average delay of the Tokaido Shinkansen is merely one tenth of a minute, or six seconds, per train per year and that no fatal accident directly caused by the railway technology has occurred since its inauguration in 1964.    

What Japan exported to India

Glass-roots globalization in progress