India’s high-speed rail ambitions got a fresh push as the Center has approved seven bullet train corridors across the country, promising shorter travel time and stronger rail connectivity between major cities. There are seven high speed rail corridors:
- From Mumbai to Ahmedabad it will take 1 hour 57 minutes.
- It will take 48 minutes from Mumbai to Pune.
- From Bengaluru to Chennai it will take 73 minutes.
- From Bengaluru to Hyderabad it will take 2 hours 10 minutes.
- From Pune to Hyderabad it will take 2 hours 8 minutes.
- It will take 2 hours from Delhi to Lucknow.
- It will take 3 hours 15 minutes from Delhi to Varanasi.
- It will take 6 hours from Delhi to Siliguri.
The announcement comes as the government pushes forward with its high-speed railway expansion across the country. Earlier on Friday, Minister Ashwini Vaishnav and Bihar CM Samrat Chaudhary inaugurated a new weekly train service between Chhapra Junction and Anand Vihar Terminal. During the event, Vaishnav also virtually flagged off two additional train services connecting Maul to Delhi and Zaheerghat to Varanasi.Addressing the gathering, Vaishnav said Bihar will get more than 200 new trains in the next seven to eight years as part of a major railway expansion programme. He said projects worth over Rs 1.15 lakh crore are currently underway in the state, which he described as an unprecedented growth in railway infrastructure.The Railway Minister also announced that the Delhi-Varanasi-Patna Bullet Train Corridor has been approved. According to him, after the commissioning of the proposed high-speed rail line, the travel time between Patna and Delhi will reduce to only 4 hours 41 minutes. He further said that there are plans to extend this corridor to Siliguri in future.India’s first bullet train project was officially launched in 2017, although discussions on a high-speed rail link between Mumbai and Ahmedabad had already begun. The 508 km long Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor is being developed with technical and financial assistance from Japan using the Shinkansen system.
