Representative image, used only for representative purpose
India’s high-speed rail ambitions have received a fresh boost as the Center approved seven high-speed rail corridors across the country, promising shorter travel times between major cities and stronger rail connectivity.
The seven high-speed rail corridors are:
- The flight from Mumbai to Ahmedabad takes 1 hour and 57 minutes.
- The journey from Mumbai to Pune will take 48 minutes.
- The flight time from Bengaluru to Chennai is 73 minutes.
- The flight from Bengaluru to Hyderabad takes 2 hours and 10 minutes.
- The distance from Pune to Hyderabad takes 2 hours and 8 minutes.
- The flight from Delhi to Lucknow will take 2 hours.
- The flight time from Delhi to Varanasi is 3 hours and 15 minutes.
- The journey from Delhi to Siliguri will take 6 hours.
The announcement comes as the government continues to ramp up high-speed rail expansion across the country. Earlier on Friday, Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Bihar CM Samrat Chaudhary inaugurated a new weekly train service between Chhabra Junction and Anand Vihar station. During the event, Vaishnaw also announced two additional train services connecting Mawul to Delhi and Zahirghat to Varanasi.Addressing the gathering, Vaishnaw said Bihar will receive more than 200 new trains over the next seven to eight years as part of a major railway expansion programme. He added that projects worth over Rs 1.15 lakh crore are currently being implemented in the state, which he described as witnessing unprecedented growth in railway infrastructure.The Railway Minister also announced that the bullet train corridor between Delhi, Varanasi and Patna has been approved.
According to him, the proposed high-speed rail line will reduce the travel time between Patna and Delhi to just 4 hours and 41 minutes once it is operational. He further said that there are plans to extend the corridor to Siliguri in the future.India’s first high-speed rail project was officially launched in 2017, although discussions about a high-speed rail line between Mumbai and Ahmedabad had begun earlier. The 508 km long Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor is being developed with technical and financial assistance from Japan using the Shinkansen system.