Eco Factor: High-speed traveling can be eco-friendly too with such bullet trains feeding on renewable energy resources.
Since childhood, I have been in awe of bullet trains. Those days, it was unimaginable to think of traveling on such speeding trains when all that we had were electric chuk-chuks. However times have changed and so has the speed of normal trains. Bullet trains too have undergone brilliant green changes. People can now travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in a short span of less then three hours via the high-speed bullet train. And as this bullet shoots on tracks, it will not leave an inch of carbon footprint behind. Unlike the high-speed, fuel guzzling aircraft that are the culprits for air pollution.
Intended to use about 3,350 GWh (at 220 MPH) per annum, studies reveal that this amount of energy requirement is just one percent of the whole state’s energy consumption. So it won’t be a hurdle for the authorities too. By 2030, you can travel green by this 800-mile bullet train system that can ferry up to 100 million passengers per year. If only you reside in that corner of the globe.
The Dark Side: I’d have to be dumb to criticize this kind of uber-green high-speed traveling alternative. I can only pray that such trains increase in numbers.
Via: CleanTechnica
Comments
Wouldn’t it be just great if high speed trains became more common so we can travel with less carbon guilt!
With so many domestic flights in US, its great to see such initiative. And powering the train by renewable source is such a fantastic effort.
Incidentally there are talks of starting high speed train in India too, starting between Mumbai and Delhi first. The feasibility study will be happening soon.
Hope in India too they consider the eco-friendly way to power the high speed trains.
Waiting for India to be hit by such bullets on the tracks :) Hope we cab start straight away with the eco-friendly ones like this.
That is such a noble thought Deepa, but unfortunately our corrupt administration and the Corrupt system would never spare money for a project that is eco-friendly and a fast way to commute at the same time. People like Laloo Prasad cannot even think of such reforms. He is more concerned about his own family members traveling without a ticket in the AC class and then driving the media away for the want of evidence.
It feels so nice to see such a train but then let us put it off the table for a couple of decades. By then the Americans would have started a train to moon.
Ah how can we talk about Indian Railways without bring Lalu in the picture. Some how I feel he has for once done something good for our society bringing about a few +ve changes as a railway minister.
However we definitely have a Loooooong way to go before we can even think of trains running on renewable resources.
Train travel in India as of now is to put in one word, dangerous.
I was talking to a train driver (he drives Rajdhani express) and he was sharing his various experiences... Like, believe it or not, till recently there was no electronic system to indicate break in tracks. So if a high speed train like Rajdhani is on a track that has been sabotaged, they won’t know it and you know what will happen... also people committing suicide by jumping in front of trains is common and the driver is supposed to let the railway police at next station know about it, but its never done because of harassment that they have to go thru during inquiry (like how driver say it was a suicide and not a murder!!!!).
India sure has a long way to go.
Gosh knowing about all this make it scary to step on a decent train like Rajdhani too. Ignorance is bliss at such times :))
I know :)).. those were my exact words to him.. ignorance was bliss!
In fact most of the tracks railway bridges are age old and some German experts who had come to study Indian Railways Network, they commented only GOd knows how there are so few accidents in India.
But the good news is there has been lots of development in recent years. Like our Engineers at Konkan Railways have developed and patented an electronic anti-collision device that is 100% fail proof...
However good or bad it may be, I love trains and hope to see this super-speed trains in India too.
Here is a Lalu answer for those German experts - ”Since we have hundreds of Gods to pray to, we need not worry about our safety. All of them take good care of all Indian train-travelers. However its mandatory to read Hanuman Chalisa before starting the journey”
Simply translate this in Lalu lingo!
LOL LOL LOL.... secret of Indian Railway safety!!!
”.... However its mandatory to read Hanuman Chalisa before starting the journey” - hahahahaha