India set to miss key target for Japan-backed bullet train project

However, local political opposition in Palghar, ahead of a general election next year, has fanned the protests. Opponents say the bullet train is wasteful and the money would be better used upgrading the country's rickety rail infrastructure. Farmers have threatened a hunger strike.

wasteful for now but later on it will helps

... the bullet train is wasteful and the money would be better used upgrading the country’s rickety rail infrastructure.

*Never a popular option among politicians. Just look at England and HS2... Far better to waste money on a highly-visible vanity project than actually consider what people need and want. Maglev is another case in point....

IncredibleIndia lol

I also think the bullet train is a waste for India at this time, Japan is eager to bring India neck to neck with China, but things like this just can't be hastened. The country is still vastly underdeveloped in infrastructure, they need large networks of normal trains and roads, clean water, waste management, educatio capacity, there are so many things to invest.

If you look at China, they were already quite developed when they started the bullet train craze. so everything came into place naturally. India? not so much

I also think the bullet train is a waste for India at this time

The project isn't really for India, it's for Japan. Japan (us taxpayers) is funding most of it, as it's primarily aimed at making work for Japanese corporations because their home market is shrinking.

When tax season rolls around, we can feel good about doing our bit so a few wealthy Indians traveling to and from Modi's hometown can travel in speed and comfort and Japanese rail corporations can rake in more profits.

If this were China rather than Japan, the partner would be a pliable dictator rather than a democratic leader. Really really hard to do these infrastructure projects with lots of voices and voters in play. Sad but true.

And China was able to have high speed train exactly because there is no democracy here, communist party makes a decision and things move ahead. In India, 5 years from now, they still will be cutting the bushes to make space for tracks.

Put tunnels underground and let people keep their land!