THIS is an era of bullet trains that travel at high speed. Karachi and Hyderabad are two big cities of Pakistan. The distance between these cities is 160km.

If we construct a new train route and run a bullet train with a speed of 400km an hour, it will take less than half an hour to reach from one city to the other. It may be noted that the train is energy-efficient. For the same load or passenger to shift from one city to the other, the train consumes about 800 per cent less energy due to less friction of steel wheel with steel tracks.

On the other hand, it is costly for a vehicle to run on asphalt. If the existing Superhighway is converted into a motorway, it will benefit none as it will result in high toll taxes.

The people who come on a daily basis from the two cities will have to bear extra burden. They will have no alternative route also. During the construction phase of the motorway there will be a lot of difficulties for the traffic and may result in fatal accidents.

It will be wiser if we go for bullet train service instead of the motorway. We will, in that case, tell the world that we are a progressive nation and can build, run and maintain bullet trains.

Historically, the train service in Paksitan was started between Karachi and Kotri. As the distance is short, soil structure is good, all facilities are available, the port is near, so instead of hesitating, we should go for bullet-train service.

AZHAR KHALIQUE SHAR Hyderabad