The Indian Railways Fantasy: Between Hopelessly Local & Mindlessly Global

 

There are two distinct species of people—albeit at opposite ends of the opinionated spectrum—who are my perennial bêtes noires, my fate-bound tormentors in the grand circus of public discourse. On one side are the unwavering zealots, those impervious to all evidence, chanting the mantra of Vishwaguru! (Teacher to the world), while reality smoulders quietly in the background, like embers that have not erupted into full flames but are still destructive, hiding an ignored quagmire while the grand illusion persists. For them, Indian Railways (IR) is racing ahead at full throttle—never mind the frequent derailments, both literal and metaphorical. No matter that while eloquence and hype swirl abundantly in the air, action and completion remain as rare as a punctual sarkari (governmental) file.

Then there is the other lot, equally insufferable, who believe that IR is an irredeemable mess, a grand monument to incompetence, incapable of so much as tightening a loose nut without divine intervention—preferably accompanied by a special task force, a foreign consultant, and a committee that takes five years to conclude that the nut, in fact, does not exist. In their view, every train that runs on time is a statistical fluke, every new initiative a repackaged failure, and every attempt at reform an elaborate exercise in futility. They look at IR with the same exasperation as one might reserve for an ancient family heirloom—too cumbersome to discard, too broken to restore, and yet, somehow, too stubborn to vanish into oblivion.

This latter gang, the hopelessly local visionaries, fancy themselves as 'out-of-the-box' thinkers, except their box is a rusty tin can, rattling with half-baked ideas about how India can do everything better than the world—if only the world would listen.

On the flip side, the former, the mindlessly global devotees insist that innovation is a waste of time because the world has already figured it all out. “Why reinvent the wheel?” they ask, blissfully unaware that we are often handed a wheel best suited for a bullock cart while we try to run a bullet train.

The truth, I suspect, lies in neither extreme. What we need is to be local, but not hopelessly and pretentiously so—rather, hopefully and pragmatically local.

And to those who refuse to see the objective middle ground, I can only offer Touchstone’s words from the Bard’s As You Like It, "…The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool…".

My point is blunt and unapologetic: unless the gap between us and the world is insurmountable—and yes, in many areas, it undeniably is—then by all means, beg, borrow, copy, steal, reverse-engineer, or do whatever it takes. But let the final creation bear the mark of our own open mind, curiosity, ingenuity, and relentless experimentation. True ownership comes from creation, not mimicry, and ownership breeds pride—the kind of pride that fuels us to achieve far beyond our perceived limits.

Yes, discard the crippling diffidence of the naysayers, but steer clear of the hollow hype and empty bravado of the cheerleaders. This was the ethos of the Vande Bharat team—we took pride in our work, never deluded ourselves with grandiose claims of being world-class, nor did we lose sleep over shallow comparisons with the best elsewhere. We knew that what we had designed and built was a long time coming and the first firm step toward an indigenous modern train—a solid foundation, but nowhere near the pinnacle. To stand shoulder to shoulder with the best in the world would demand relentless effort, unwavering commitment, and an unyielding drive to push boundaries further.

Is this message too nuanced for the tireless evangelists of relentless positivity? Can they not grasp that the chorus of sycophantic praise is already deafening? What earthly value is there in adding yet another voice to this brigade of blind worshippers? They preach the gospel of optimism—see the glass as half full, not half empty!—conveniently ignoring that the glass is half full of an intoxicant brewed from delusion and self-congratulation. Will they ever understand that thinking ‘out of the box’ does not mean leaping headfirst into baskets of wistful, sugar-coated absurdities?

I dare say most—though not all—of these armchair apostles of make-believe have precious little to show as their own contribution. But fret not, I have no desire to add to the cacophony of hollow hallelujahs. To each his own. Instead, let us cut through the fog of hype and examine just two projects that are being spun into surreal fantasies—where illusions reign supreme. Hydrogen trains and Hyperloop.

Hydrogen trains: The technology has not matured anywhere; it is struggling in its birthplace, Germany. The prime question is investing in a technology which is meant for non-electrified sections whereas IR has gone ahead and electrified everything. The afterthought of deploying it in hilly heritage routes appears unworkable as these sections are spread all over the country at remote places. Then there are other questions: like, how green is green hydrogen and does it at all justify the cost of ground installations or is it a mere publicity stint? IR, however is not bothered, smug as they are in the half-truths of declaring that in a major infrastructural push, India has developed a railway technology that no other country currently has and that the hydrogen fuel-powered train engine developed by IR is the most powerful engine in the world. News items, presumably commissioned by IR, said that China-Europe were in shock that India had done this whereas it was debatable whether we should be shocked at the drivel that is let loose in the on-line portals. While the propulsion system has indeed been developed by a competent Indian company, which has proven itself to be world-class on many occasions,  the heart, the fuel cell is imported. If interested, you can read my opinion at:

https://anindecisiveindian.blogspot.com/2025/01/how-much-of-this-hydrogen-is-gas-irs.html

If you are interested in an objective analysis with more technical details, do go through this blog of my friend and erstwhile Vande Bharat colleague, Shubhranshu:

https://mechtechtalk.blogspot.com/2025/01/hydrogen-as-fuel-technical-critique.html?m=1

While cheerleaders gush over a project with a dubious future and 

media reports shamelessly flaunt pictures of a German train in India’s Hydrogen train news, with timelines that dance every couple of moons, promising the wonder by March 24, then December 24, next March 25 and now, soon, June 25. 

Let us release our tension and have some harmless fun, summing up the hype in limericks:

“China and Europe are shook!” they declare,

An Indian train to run on hot air!

Yet the fuel cells, you see,

Aren’t made localleee—

So who's in for a shock—them or our flair?

They hail it as world’s greatest feat,

A hydrogen train—oh, so neat!

But with nowhere to roll,

And no tech in control,

Just fumes in a press-release sheet?

Hyperloop: Amid the deafening chorus of paeans and noisy praise, this piece stands out:

India-hyperloop-spending-money-on-a-technology-that-has-failed-globally

(https://thewire.in/government/india-hyperloop-hype-spending-money-on-a-musk-technology-that-has-failed-globally)

I do not fully agree—I would not declare Hyperloop dead just yet. I do not know if this technology will ultimately succeed. But if a thorough study indicates that it has a strong chance—albeit not a certainty—of materializing in the near future, then IR should take the lead, and more importantly, the risk. As the national rail network of a large country, IR cannot afford to be a perpetual follower; it must choose at least a few technological frontiers where it can emerge as a leader, and Hyperloop could be one such arena. The IIT-Madras Avishkar Hyperloop team and its incubated startup, TuTr, have built a 410-meter test track with IR’s support. While this indigenous initiative is commendable, tangible results are still a long way off—it remains, at this stage, more of a college science fair demonstrator than a commercially exploitable project. It deserves continued support, but should IR not also collaborate with a global player in the field and strive to build the world’s first commercially operational Hyperloop section? Especially when financing is not a constraint, given IR’s comfortable position with government grants, why not aim for true leadership rather than incremental participation?

More than three years back I blogged this on Hyperloop and I extract:

https://anindecisiveindian.blogspot.com/2022/01/hype-hyper-and-hyperloop.html

“Let us not be naïve enough to think that Hyperloop companies would come to India at very favourable terms to build a demonstrative system. Get real and leverage the might of our country to pitch in for a fully commercial, albeit medium-distance, Hyperloop project, say Mumbai-Pune or Chennai-Bangalore. Everyone wonders at the progress made by China in HSR and even Maglev but remember, they did not develop the technology themselves. The exploited all the majors in the field with the bargaining chip of hitherto unseen volumes and fast execution. In no time, they acquired the capability to do things on their own and forged ahead, dumping all their partners. We, used to the debilitating oxy-moronish Transfer of Technology regime, must  break free and realize our full potential through an imaginative contract which may give the Hyperloop companies a ripe field for proving their concept but also enable and equip us to chart our own course in future.”

What we have instead is a barrage of hype of Chennai to Bangalore in 25 minutes and now even a network across the country with all metros being a couple of hours, if not minutes, away from each other. No point in bringing quotes of the Bard subtly, let me cover it, once again, in two telling limericks:

Chennai to Bangalore—minutes away!

The hyperloop hype bellows all day.

Yet the test track so small,

Is no breakthrough at all,

Just a science fair project on display!

Hyperloop’s selling a dream,

headlines that constantly scream!

Yet the test track so short,

Feels more like a sport—

For hamsters with jetpack esteem!

Dreams are good because therein lies the root of great things to come. But pipedreams are another matter. Indian railways have turned around the famous words of the Bard through Volumnia in Coriolanus “Action is eloquence...” to “Eloquence itself be action”. As for Hydrogen trains and Hyperloop, they made much ado about nothing. And now, like many a grand promise, a la Prospero in The Tempest, they are but “such stuff as dreams are made on.”

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