If India aims to have high speed railways, then Government will have to be ready to bear large part of the required investments. This is what Yoshiyuki Kasai, Chairman of Central Railway Japan Company, a firm famous for operating the famous high speed train Tokaido Shinkasen in Japan — also popularly known as bullet trains —said here today.

“The initial costs of construction look very expensive, but the benefits do not belong to the user only. It belongs to the society, the area....The money can be raised by Government through taxation as the beneficiaries include not just the users but the local economy, area (around the high speed rail),” said Yoshiyuki Kasai, Chairman, Central Railway Japan Company, who is visiting India. He was replying to a query on how high speed railways could be made affordable for developing countries such as India.

It will not be very profitable area of business for private companies, but for Government it will be very beneficial as it will push economic growth, he added.

“Tokaido Shinkasen was constructed through a Government corporation, but it was recovered by passengers payments in eight years because of the high traffic density. In India, there may not be such pairs of cities right now. One option (for India) is to wait for such traffic-dense cities to come up and start construction later. Another option is to construct a high speed rail and track the economic growth along the corridor. The Government will have to take a policy decision on what to do,” said Kasai, while speaking at an interaction organised by Ananta Aspen Centre, here.

“The returns are not enough for a private company to invest. It has to be through a public private partnership…there are various models for investing. Maybe the Government can invest in construction and the private company can invest in the trains, operations and maintenance…Fuel cost may be subsidised by the Government. It depends on the Government of the day,” said Kasai.

On whether Japan is ready to invest in high speed rails in India, he said “We are not going to invest to construct the high speed railway as a business. We are going to provide technological support to the Government or any private company,” he said. Japan has a huge investment plan (of $50 billion) for building laid out in its own country which will pan out over the next 15 years.

>mamuni.das@thehindu.co.in

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