A sense of wonder filled the carriage as the Vande Bharat Express raced through the flatlands of Uttar Pradesh, bound from Varanasi to Delhi, at 130kph. A seminal paper by Dave Donaldson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology evaluated the economic impact of the 67,247km railway network built on the subcontinent by the British between 1853 and 1930. What is dissuading it? Beyond the perennial disincentives listed above, the rising cost of capital and uncertainty over demand are making investors wary