Speed is the need of the hour.  That is what is mostly claimed by telecom companies advertising for 4G networks. Every newly invented product has increased speed as one of its major features. The pace of life has increased due to speed. India still considered a developing country has a lot of ambition to match the developed countries.

India’s financial capital Mumbai has been one of the fastest growing cities worldwide. In the recently concluded Union Budget 2018, Mumbai was allocated Rs 11,000 crores to add 90 km of double line tracks of Mumbai local trains, which is the lifeline of the city. The suburban network, used by around 8.50 million commuters daily, will also be expanded with another 150 km of railway lines to be laid at a cost of Rs 40,000 crore, which will for the first time include elevated corridors in some sections of the space-starved city. The above allocation of Rs 51,000 crore is a big relief for daily commuters.

However the desire to reach the pinnacle before the base is secure could leave the island city in a bit of trouble. Below I have tabulated the data for India’s most ambitious transportation projects:

	Bullet Train	Hyperloop
Conceptualised	1930	2013
Implemented	1964	Not yet. (Companies aim is 2021)
Number of Countries having the system	U.S., U.K., Europe, Japan, China, Russia, Taiwan, Turkey, Uzbekistan	None. Dubai and Mumbai in the race to be the first.
India’s Interest	2013	2018
Expected implementation date	2022	2024
Estimated Cost	1,10,000 crore	20,000 crore
Distance Covered	508 km (Mumbai- Ahmedabad)	150 km (Mumbai-Pune)
Speed	320kmph	1200kmph theoretical. As on date only 387kmph
Duration	2 hours and 8 minutes from the current duration of 7 hours	25 Minutes from the current duration of 3 hours

Mumbai being the 4^th largest city in the world in terms of population which is currently more than 22 million, has 70% residing in slums. In contrast, it is also the cities to host the world’s richest people. As a result new speedy transportation systems will thrill the rich and kill the livelihoods of poor who have been relocated to make way for new transportation systems. The gap between the rich and the poor will only widen.

“Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty” – Socrates

    Lastly given Mumbai’s space constraints, it is nearly impossible to house so many transportation modes. We are already running out of open spaces. Moreover to accommodate new transportation systems would include evacuating people from certain areas to make available the provisions and facilities. This reminds me of Steven Wrights quote “You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”