The rail budget presented recently had the direction that the new Government wants to give India. A speedy way ahead!!! Among the many progressive measures that were announced by the railways minister - one thing that caught the eyes and ears of the population was - the Bullet Train between Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor.
Never before in the recent years had any Government presented such grandiose plans and promises in the budget, notoriously known to keep the upcoming elections in mind or to satiate some of the "beneficiary"states.
The media was agog with writing epitaphs for this plan even before it could be conceived. The media is dead. Long live the media!!!
At a cost of 60K Crore INR, this is no mean task to achieve. The Modi Government must have planned to the minute details before making the announcement.
So, if you are dreaming about the day when you would be travelling this train, christened Goli Gaadi, fret not. I shall recount my amazing experience of travelling by this mode of transport.
Yups, you read it right. I am just back from one of the most amazing and humbling journeys of my life.
The train has been built keeping in mind the Indian sensibilities and culture. Habits of decades are not easy to break, are they?
The tickets have been priced pretty modestly - I paid INR 1000 for the return journey. The rakes have been manufactured at the Matunga Workshop at Matunga, Mumbai. There was an array of delicious delicacies served during the journey - vada pavs, sukha bhels, theplas, samosas and an assortment of savouries.
The Goli Gaadi is completely indigenous!!! Made in India, for India by India, inspired by the World. This is the Goli Gaadi slogan.
For the cattle class population, there is also a slower version named Katta Gaadi. The Kattas run primarily in the mofussil hinterland towns of North India.
The technology for the Goli Gaadi has been obtained from the Ordinance Factory.
The entire project has a price tag of around the same amount that cost to make the Hollywood movie Unstoppable. The entire project team received congratulatory message from the Prime Minister for this cost efficient execution.
The average speed clocked by the train was 150 km/hr.
This was when the masterstroke of the Indians came to be seen by the world. The Indian Ordinance factory announced the migration of all bullets and arms used by the armed forces and the law enforcing agencies from the existing ones to a newer ones that have a muscle velocity.. oops muzzle velocity of 100 km/hr.
Here I am ... perhaps you may not be able to spot me....
The return journey was a bit of a crowded affair as I missed my Goli Gaadi and had to hop on to a Katta Express.
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