New Delhi, December 23
Imagine covering a distance of about 1400 km between Delhi and Mumbai in eight hours by a train running at an average speed of about 200 kmph. The Japanese promise this could become a reality with their bullet train technology.

Japan plans to launch a major marketing drive to sell the technology to India during Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s visit to New Delhi next week.

Ahead of his visit for the annual India-Japan summit, the Japanese PM is understood to have instructed his Cabinet members and business leaders to join hands in selling Japanese infrastructure to India, especially the bullet train system.

Indian officials confirmed that the transfer of the bullet train technology by Japan would be high on the agenda when Noda meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday.

Exporting Japanese infrastructure is said to be one of the main targets of the ruling Democratic Party in Japan. Tokyo believes that competition for infrastructure projects is severe. Therefore, Japan should make every effort to combine its excellent technologies, operational know-how, human resources, and finances in marketing its unparallelled infrastructure systems overseas.

India has been considering importing the bullet train technology from Japan for a number of years. New Delhi has drawn up a blueprint to build a high-speed rail system to cope with expanding demand for intercity travel amid a fast-growing economy. The Railways Ministry has unveiled plans to build six high-speed lines to link major industrial and population hubs in the country.