In a bid to modernise the long-established railway network in India that date back to the British era, the Government has set sight on upgrading the transport system in the country by introducing Bullet trains. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe laid foundation for the first high speed rail project that links Mumbai to Ahmedabad. The Indian Railways and Japanese firm, Shinkansen Technology will work jointly on the “Bullet Train” project which will involve a whopping investment of Rs 1,10,000 crore.
It is said that 81% of the project’s cost will be aided by Japan, as soft loans against an interest rate of 0.1%, with repayment due over a period of 50 years. While the work has already been started on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route, a report has already been submitted by the High-Speed Rail Corporation (HRSC) to the Indian Railways deeming the viability of Delhi-Amritsar and Delhi-Kota corridors. Besides, studies are also being conducted on the feasibility for constructing bullet train corridors in Mumbai-Chennai and Delhi-Mumbai routes. Read – What If Your Car Could Run On Whisky Fuel?
Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet Train
The new train is said to accommodate 750 passengers and will make 70 sorties. Interestingly, the bullet train running through Maharashtra and Gujarat will have an average speed of 250 km/h and will have a top speed of 320km/h. Moreover, the 508-km stretch will have around 92% of elevated route, 6% tunnel route and the remaining will be on the ground. Connecting Mumbai to Ahmedabad, the train will have 12 stoppages, which will include 351 km stretch in Gujarat and 156 km in Maharashtra. While the travelling time will be reduced to a little over 3 hours against the long 8-hour journey, the train will pass through a 21-km long tunnel including the 7 km stretch under the sea. According to the new Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, the train is expected to operate from August 15, 2022, on the 75th year of India’s Independence.
Delhi-Amritsar Bullet Train
The bullet train covering the Delhi-Amritsar route will have three stoppages at Chandigarh, Panipat and Ambala. Interestingly, the 458-km corridor will ostensibly be covered within 2 and a half hours, which usually takes four hours. This would save 90 minutes of total travel time.
Delhi-Kolkata Bullet Train
Another upcoming Bullet train from Delhi to Kolkata will be an extension of the Delhi to Varanasi corridor that has received a green signal for the authorities. One must note that this will be the longest corridor covering 1474kms. This route will cover 11 stations including Greater Noida, Aligarh, Lucknow, Sultanpur, Jaipur, Varanasi, Buxar, Patna, Dhanbad, Asansol and Burdwan. The total travel time for this corridor will be 6 hours, which is substantially less than Rajdhani Express. A whopping investment of Rs 100,000 crore has been made on the project which is expected to start by 2021. Read – 5 Weird Traffic Laws Across the World
Delhi-Mumbai Bullet Train
The much-anticipated Delhi-Mumbai bullet Train is primarily an extension of the ongoing Mumbai Ahmedabad high speed train corridor. The train will take halt at cities including Gurgaon, Jaipur, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Vadodra and Surat. Insight – Are Indian Roads Safe Enough To Drive?
Mumbai-Chennai Bullet Train
While the last one on the list of upcoming Bullet trains in India will be the Mumbai-Chennai corridor. It will take halt at two of India’s popular holiday destinations Goa and Tirupati, however the train will also pass through cities like Pune and Bengaluru. The Mumbai-Nagpur bullet train on the other hand will have four stopovers at Nasik, Aurangabad, Akola and Amrawati. Yet in nascent stage, the feasibility report on these two trains will be submitted by October this year. Moreover, work on most of these trains will start from 2021.
