Does India need bullet trains?

Home - India has agreed to buy a high-speed bullet train from Japan, in an attempt to transform its creaking rail system. Mohan Guruswamy wonders whether it makes sense.
Last week Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet cleared a $14.7bn (£9.6bn), 650km (403 miles) long bullet train system linking the western Indian cities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad, which will cut travel time on the route from eight hours to two.
"This enterprise will launch a revolution in Indian railways and speed up India's journey into the future. It will become an engine of economic transformation in India," Mr Modi said.
But will it?
To be sure the BJP's election manifesto released in April 2014 promised a 5,846km (3632 miles) "high speed train network (bullet train)" linking Delhi, Chennai (Madras), Kolkata (Calcutta) and Mumbai. Interestingly, it didn't include Ahmedabad, the capital of Mr Modi's native state, Gujarat.

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