More states want to board bullet train
High speed trains appear to have caught the fancy of states across regions. Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have approached the Railway ministry.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: High speed trains appear to have caught the fancy of states across regions. Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have approached the Railway ministry, expressing interests in having high speed bullet train corridors in their respective states. The Railways are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with the French Railway for sharing technical expertise on high speed rail, a senior Railway official said.
The high-speed corridor comprises four routes and is estimated to cost about Rs 25,000 crore for each route. Trains will run at an average speed of 250-350 km/hour on these corridors. The proposed routes — Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar, Mumbai-Baroda-Ahmedabad, Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore and Howrah-Asansol-Patna — were announced in the current Rail Budget.
The corridor aims at reducing the travel time drastically. Earlier, a preliminary study was conducted by RITES for the 492 km Mumbai-Ahmedabad route. “However, we need a more detailed study to go ahead with the ambitious Rs 1-lakh crore project,” said the official involved with the project.
“Besides France, the Railways are also seeking help from Japan in the bullet train project as both the countries have done extensive research on these projects,” said an official adding. The study on the bullet train project is required for the involvement of financial institutions and the industry while the government is for viability gap funding.
Since the corridor is expected to cost about Rs 50 crore per km, state governments and civic bodies have also been approached for sharing the expenditure. States have been asked to levy cess on housing developments along the corridors.
The high-speed corridor comprises four routes and is estimated to cost about Rs 25,000 crore for each route. Trains will run at an average speed of 250-350 km/hour on these corridors. The proposed routes — Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar, Mumbai-Baroda-Ahmedabad, Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore and Howrah-Asansol-Patna — were announced in the current Rail Budget.
The corridor aims at reducing the travel time drastically. Earlier, a preliminary study was conducted by RITES for the 492 km Mumbai-Ahmedabad route. “However, we need a more detailed study to go ahead with the ambitious Rs 1-lakh crore project,” said the official involved with the project.
“Besides France, the Railways are also seeking help from Japan in the bullet train project as both the countries have done extensive research on these projects,” said an official adding. The study on the bullet train project is required for the involvement of financial institutions and the industry while the government is for viability gap funding.
Since the corridor is expected to cost about Rs 50 crore per km, state governments and civic bodies have also been approached for sharing the expenditure. States have been asked to levy cess on housing developments along the corridors.
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