‘Even Vande Bharat feels inferior…’: Tech investor slams India’s rail crawl vs China’s 17-year sprint

Indian railways jumped a big leap with the release of Rajdhani Express in 1969, putting the country before most Asia at the speed of the train, and only the second to Japan.

But after five decades, with Vande Bharat for the first time in 2019 at the fastest speed of 160 km per hour, it seemed that the momentum had stopped.

“Even Vande Bharat feels condemnation of Chinese trains that reach twice the speed,” Rajesh Sawhney, founder of GSF Accessor, in a modern post on X. His comment indicates a growing feeling that the railway technology in India has witnessed very great progress, it is too late.

1969: India Rajdhani Express launched. At that time, Japan (in Asia) was advanced on India on 100 km/h. “2019: India launched the first Vande Bharat at the maximum speed of 160 km/h.”

He added, “We have lost 50 years without any major technology upgrade in our train system” by thinking about the gap between the prominent landmarks.

The Sawhney comparison came in response to a center that highlights the expansion of railway railways in China: “It is madness that China has built 48,000 km of high -speed rail network in only 17 years?”

His evaluation: “Even Vande Bharat feels much lower than Chinese trains that are at a speed of weakness.”

He also presented a case due to the importance of the speed: “The train itself can do twice the number of rounds between two points (for example Beijing and Shanghai), thus carries twice the number of people in one day and the use of half Capex required to build trains.”

As of December 31, 2024, the high -speed rail network in China reached about 48,000 km, representing approximately 30 percent of the total railway system. The expansion began seriously in the middle of 2000, starting with the Qinhuangdao-Shenyang line in 2003, followed by the Beijing-Ternjin Intercity rail in 2008.

Since 2012, China has added more than 3000 km of high -speed lines every year. By 2025, the network is expected to cross 50,000 km, with a goal of 2030, which is 60,000 km. Today, it covers more than 96 percent of cities with a population of more than 500,000 and two -thirds of the high -speed global capacity.

A large part of this growth is funded. In 2009 alone, China spent $ 50 billion on HSR development, with a total construction cost of about 300 billion dollars.