PATNA: Although introduction of Bullet trains onIndian Railway tracks is still a dream, the high-speed corridors have finally been identified by the Railway Board for pre-feasibility studies.
The governments of respective states through which the project would pass, have also agreed to share the cost of the project.
According to a Railway Board official, railway minister Mamata Banerjee has given her nod to this ambitious project conceptualized long back. Railways has identified six corridors for conducting pre-feasibility tests for running high-speed trains. They are Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna (991 km), Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar (450 km), Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad (650 km), Hyderabad-Darnakal-Vijaywada-Chennai (644 km), Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam (649 km) and Howrah-Haldia (135 km), he said.
Under the plan, railways intends to run some trains at the speed of 160 km to 200 km per hour while a few pairs of trains would have restriction to run at the speed of 160 km to 180 km per hour in different zones of railways due to track condition.
The high-speed train corridors have become the need of the hour for railways to face competition with air services. The railways is keen to provide fast running trains to people on the pattern of European countries. The high-speed corridors would thus fulfil the needs of railways at a time when it is facing tough competition with air and road transport services, said the Railway Board official.
According to him, the Patna-New Delhi route seems to be the most viable for converting it into a high-speed corridor. Tracks of superfine quality have replaced the old tracks all along the route. However, signalling system is yet to be improved on this particular route, he said.
According to sources, a high-level team comprising Railway Board officials has already held meetings with different state governments in connection with the survey work of the project’s pre-feasibility.
In Bihar, Railways intends to carry out the pre-feasibility test at a cost of about Rs 15 crore, sources said, adding the total area falling under Bihar is about 200 km while the rest falls under the jurisdiction of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi state government. Introduction of high-speed trains would yield revenue to the railways as well-off passengers would prefer to travel by these trains. Railways must get uninterrupted power supply to run high-speed trains. IIT, Kharagpur, has been working on this project to make the dream project of railways a reality, sources said.