There are lies, damned lies, statistics and BS. Media bordellos like Business Standard are indulging in BS.
I can claim that in future the HSR bullet trains plying between Bandra-Kurla-Complex and Ahmedabad will be 50% empty during part-peak times? How so?
Take the case of a bullet train arriving at 7:00 AM in Ahmedabad. It will start at 4:30 AM from BKC (assuming 2.5 hours end-to-end ride). From BKC to Surat., the HSR will be running half-empty. Or even more empty.
So will it be fair to say that BKC-Ahmedabad train runs half full? Or running half empty? Maybe an RTI enquiry with a twisted end purpose might be more useful!
Economically it will be better to run the trains often (and even half empty) rather than keep it idle waiting for optimum load. For peak times, one can implement surge pricing and for off-peak one can put in discounts.
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How will bullet train achieve break even with high capital investment , less number of station & much higher fares (may lead to less users).
Since a poor person cannot afford Bullet train in interior of odisha or west bengal., let's not put a high fare bullet train between Mum/Ahmedabad.
Instead of raising an inane question., it is better to look at facts.
Compare the cost of HSR fares to air cost. Currently catching a IndiGo flight will cost you somewhere between Rs. 2500- Rs. 3500 one way. Of course you will have to book 2-3 days in advance and if you are lucky you will get the air ticket. If the HSR is priced at Rs. 2000/- all the air passengers will get on to the HSR.
The AC Chair currently is in waiting list for the next 2-3 days., but assuming you can get one - you will pay anything between 1500/- to 2000/- Rs. In a nutshell, the HSR can today charge Rs. 2250/- for a Mumbai (BKR) to Ahmedabad one way ticket.
So when a media bordello like the wire quotes a statement like:
A study carried out by IIM, Ahmedabad, indicated that a 100 daily trips would be required between Ahmedabad and Mumbai to make the bullet train financially viable. About 35 trips are reportedly being planned.
It should raise immediate red flags. There is the appeal to authority by quoting IIMA. Who did the study for IIMA? When was the study conducted? How was it conducted? Who funded it?
The above statement can be junk'ed from the fact that it is introduced after the premise of:
If the rupee’s purchasing power has dipped from 19.77 yen in 1985 to 1.72 yen today, then after 50 years can a rupee buy anything more than just a fraction of a yen?
The above statement precludes the possibility that the Rupee could as well re-evaluate upwards instead of de-valuating downwards. Nobody can predict the future., particularly the media bordellos*
Surajsan did link the IIMA study. It assumes Rs. 1500/- fifteen (15) years from the operation (say 2035) when the current fare on Shatabdi leaving Mumbai at 6:00 and arriving at Ahmedabad at 12:00 is already between Rs. 1500/- to Rs. 2000/- and already in waiting list. This is for one way. Today.
BTW., the IIMA says "100" trips., which is actually '100 one-way trips' or '50 return trips'. The number of trains today between Mum/Ahmedabad is 72 with 13 "chain trains" (you get down at Vadodara in middle of night to take a train to Ahmedabad for example the Dehradun express).
Of course the guys at IIMA themselves did not make any trip to Mumbai and back to realize what the reality is.
Did the guys at IIMA not know that there are 129 trains plying between vasai rd/panvel/bandra/mumbai central to Vadodara
And BTW., some of the seats are on waiting list on 1st AC at @1700 Rs/- on some trains till Nov 24 - one way. It will be truly ache din if in 2035, the trip on HSR will cost Rs. 1500/- in 2035 - one way!!
*Media bordellos and #mediapimps need to be discredited matter-of-factly when they proceed with such illogic.