Let's say, I am a Gujju businessman owning a S-class Mercedes and having an office anywhere along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train route, while my family stays in Ahmedabad. I can think of a 1000 such families in my knowledge leave alone making an actual count.
Now would I pay Rs. 20,000 for a one-way luxury class ticket to Mumbai from Ahmedabad ( I will leave out the cost dynamics of the intermediate travel for the interested accountant) by the bullet train on a daily basis?
Normally, no!! While my Merc proclaims my status, I am particular about the daily cost of the travel so I would keep such bullet train travel for visitors i want to impress or special weekends or to get a business visitor to see my farm house 45 kms away from the city center in Ahmedabad!
But what if the bullet train authorities said that i could drive in my mercedes into the bullet train and drive off in Mumbai , drive around, and then drive back into the bullet train and drive back home at the end of the day - would this entice me? Would such an offer be affordable to the Railways?
Lets take a peek into the cost dynamics from either side -
Railway perspective -
The railways as per the Wikipedia plans a 10 to 16 coach train capable of carrying 1300 to 1600 passengers. For ease of calculation i presume a 16 coach , 1600 passenger capacity format which gives me 100 passengers per coach.
A normal coach would earn me a revenue of Rs. 150000 per coach , @ Rs. 1500 per 100 passengers.
So, if i get this amount i am revenue neutral.
Not knowing the dimensions of the coach, I am going by mere geometry, so, I took Tata Divo Luxury Bus that takes 45 passengers and its length is about 12 meters, so I presume that at 24 meters the length of the coach would accomodate 100 passengers.
Next, I browsed for overall lengths of luxury cars , which are less than 6 meters so I presumed that i could fit 4 cars on the floor and 4 cars on an upper berth , no car being greater than 1.5 meters in height - total 8 cars. Similarly a payload of 20 tonnes should match weights of a filled coach on a design basis for the bullet train to look on this payload as a normal passenger coach in all aspects.
So, the cost for railways is Rs. 150000 divided by 8 cars - Rs. 18750 /- per car !! Rs. 1250 for attendants and good snacks or cold drinks from Taj Sats! - Total Rs. 20,000
For me (remember I am a Gujju businessman now ) -
I will put the cost of travel in Mumbai all through the day including travel to and from the airport -
Rs.200 per day parking charges at the station counting both ends together.
Rs. 4500 minimum (Rs. 1500 per person for three persons I will take in my mercedes)
Rs. 6000 Economy Class airfare to Mumbai per person - Rs. 18000/-
My God, its a deal (and the driver gets to travel for free as I expect in all my transactions !!)
Now would I pay Rs. 20,000 for a one-way luxury class ticket to Mumbai from Ahmedabad ( I will leave out the cost dynamics of the intermediate travel for the interested accountant) by the bullet train on a daily basis?
Normally, no!! While my Merc proclaims my status, I am particular about the daily cost of the travel so I would keep such bullet train travel for visitors i want to impress or special weekends or to get a business visitor to see my farm house 45 kms away from the city center in Ahmedabad!
But what if the bullet train authorities said that i could drive in my mercedes into the bullet train and drive off in Mumbai , drive around, and then drive back into the bullet train and drive back home at the end of the day - would this entice me? Would such an offer be affordable to the Railways?
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| How the cars may go into the train! |
Lets take a peek into the cost dynamics from either side -
Railway perspective -
The railways as per the Wikipedia plans a 10 to 16 coach train capable of carrying 1300 to 1600 passengers. For ease of calculation i presume a 16 coach , 1600 passenger capacity format which gives me 100 passengers per coach.
A normal coach would earn me a revenue of Rs. 150000 per coach , @ Rs. 1500 per 100 passengers.
So, if i get this amount i am revenue neutral.
Not knowing the dimensions of the coach, I am going by mere geometry, so, I took Tata Divo Luxury Bus that takes 45 passengers and its length is about 12 meters, so I presume that at 24 meters the length of the coach would accomodate 100 passengers.
Next, I browsed for overall lengths of luxury cars , which are less than 6 meters so I presumed that i could fit 4 cars on the floor and 4 cars on an upper berth , no car being greater than 1.5 meters in height - total 8 cars. Similarly a payload of 20 tonnes should match weights of a filled coach on a design basis for the bullet train to look on this payload as a normal passenger coach in all aspects.
So, the cost for railways is Rs. 150000 divided by 8 cars - Rs. 18750 /- per car !! Rs. 1250 for attendants and good snacks or cold drinks from Taj Sats! - Total Rs. 20,000
 |
| Infra for driving cars into the train |
For me (remember I am a Gujju businessman now ) -
I will put the cost of travel in Mumbai all through the day including travel to and from the airport -
Rs.200 per day parking charges at the station counting both ends together.
Rs. 4500 minimum (Rs. 1500 per person for three persons I will take in my mercedes)
Rs. 6000 Economy Class airfare to Mumbai per person - Rs. 18000/-
My God, its a deal (and the driver gets to travel for free as I expect in all my transactions !!)
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