Appeal to PM India & PM Japan : Bullet train with human face.

Rajaram Bojji  FNAE

Former MD Konkan Railway, IRSE

Director, Rajaram Bojji Herndon VA USA 20170

Your Excellencies ,

    SUB: High Speed Railway Projects in world including India and USA.

    I became US national in 2015. But born in India , studied and served in India as a public servant, in railways for 35 years.

    Sri Atal Bihari Vajpayee as PM and Dr Abdul Kalam as Principal Scientific Advisor listened to me as Managing Director of Konkan Railway and inventor [ result of my research in private time] and after due diligence sanctioned construction and testing of Skybus Metro rail. The principal advantages are

1. No urban land requirement..uses the same right of way as roads.
2. No points and crossings or big stations needing land.
3. Totally protected against derailments causing toppling of coaches or death of passengers— a breakthrough in railway technology in 200 years.
4. The same time tested proven railway sub modules are used hence industry skill sets readily available. It’s mere reconfiguration of bogies and coaches ..now bogie is overhead traveling inside a concrete box on tracks within, so can deliver the same speeds as they do on normal railway.
5. The coach is suspended below with due swing control but getting pendulum advantage of improved natural stability. The coach can use much lighter materials being free from capsizing risks or escaping from tracks.
6. The train length is kept 20m or 30m or 40m maximum, so that long turnouts for changing track avoided which in turn has twin advantages
1. Station areas get reduced in length and space.
2. The turnround time saved .
7. Traverse used in place of turn round to shift the short train length laterally the 5 m needed to change track.
8. The same capacity as regular long rakes of trains get delivered here too because shorter headway is possible of the order of less than 1minute. Typically at 5pax /sq.m in a metro rail , using a 3.6 m wide stock a 30m long coach can provide 3.2x28x5= 448 passengers at 1m headway equals 26880pphd.  Crush load could be at 6.5 passenger per sq.m , then 35000. These are typical figures one gets with full rakes too. If two units are used a consist the capacity doubles. A double decker coach can further double.
9. The rail becomes flexible because at any location a turn table arrangement suffice to turn the coach.
10. So land nor business in a city need be forced to be taken, but the Skybus top provides additional urban space of 11 to 12m wide throughout the route.  
11. So one can get all the advantages of regular legacy metro rail, with added advantage of eliminating capsizing because of derailments.
12. The usual terminal congestion problem too eliminated because multiple points of exit every 500 m all along the road makes it simple for passengers to get off at points where they need to . In case route change desired, the passenger need to climb up or go by lift to upper deck , Sky Top to walk across to another route access. Important is road transport vehicle is eliminated in the scheme of things.

   

The technology is so simple that the same workmen and field engineers who operate normal railway finished setting up the Skybus within 6 months including 1.6 km prestressed concrete bridge structure forming the Skyway. [ Full Tech movie on Skybus ]

The tests proved the dynamic safety of the system to the same international safety standards. So Skybus tech stands tested.

That means land requirements in urban areas or outside urban areas can be eliminated with this technology. The speed is merely function of what kind of bogie and tracks one uses. So whether metro rail or high speed Bullet train application of this concept totally redefines ease of delivery of project.

In India Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet project is a great opportunity for adopting this technology. Kawasaki can easily adopt to this configuration. Then without any land and associated political and time costs , the Sky Bullet can be delivered by 2022.

This will have positive impact for business opportunity of Kawasaki in USA and elsewhere. Kawasaki can get lighter coach too and reduce dead weight.

This initiative will add tremendous value to the Indo-Japan project taking advantage of Sri Atal Ji gift.  

Hope Your Excellencies will positively respond to this suggestion.

With warm regards,

Rajaram Bojji

Sept      2018