Believe it or not, Indian Railways' bullet train to say 'Sorry' for being late

Indian Railways with over 2.3 crore daily train passengers is one of the largest rail networks in the world. But, train delays are very common in the country, often leaving passengers frustrated. What may comes as respite is that the new bullet train plans to apologise to each passenger, even if it is delayed by two minutes. The National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL) has planned to adopt this Japanese feature from the railway customer ethics of Japan’s Shinkansen bullet train network, which is going to be incorporated in a 508-km bullet train service between Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati and Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex.

NHSRCL Managing Director Achal Khare told The Sunday Express that railways will apologise to each passenger. He added that each traveler will be issued a public apology in the train, at stations, in case of delays. Khare said that this is the Shinkansen culture they aim to adopt, wherein delay by even a minute or so is considered a delay.

"We will also quote the reasons for the same to our passengers," he was quoted saying in the report. The Shinkansen network of Japan issues a delay certificate for its passengers, which they can use at their workplace to justify the reason for being late.

However, the NHSRCL will not issue any delay certificates to its clients. “We will not provide any delay certificates because all the policies of Japan's rail network cannot be adopted completely as they are unique and there is differences of culture and work-life in the two countries,” he said.

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The Shinkansen once also apologised for arriving 20 seconds early at the station. Indian officers visited Japan to study the unique service of the Japanese rail network in order to emulate the same in national bullet train services. They are being trained and taking notes to understand the service completely.

It has been decided that each passenger will be allowed access as per ticket timings on to the platform only before a certain time of the train’s departure. Even after five decades, Shinkansen network of Japan has an average delay of only one minute. India’s bullet train will complete 70 trips a day, running at a speed of 320 km per hour.

The fares for the services are likely to be kept around 1.5 times the current fare for AC First Class of the Indian Railway’s between the two cities.