NEW DELHI, June 20: Seven more bullet train corridors are expected to come up soon. The Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved seven new bullet train corridors, while work continues to gather pace on the flagship Mumbai–Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project.
Mr Vaishnaw said the program was advancing steadily and that the proposed corridors were expected to reshape inter-city travel and strengthen economic connectivity across regions.
Vaishnaw stated that the railway corridors that PM Modi has approved include Mumbai–Pune, Bengaluru–Chennai, Bengaluru–Hyderabad, Pune–Hyderabad, Delhi–Lucknow, Delhi–Varanasi and Delhi–Siliguri.
He added that the new bullet train routes were expected to drastically reduce travel times between major cities. The Mumbai–Pune corridor will cut travel times to around 48 minutes, while travel between Pune and Hyderabad could take just over two hours.
Vaishnaw also added that the expanding network would transform regional connectivity by creating integrated economic corridors. He said the major cities including Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat and Hyderabad could become part of a closely linked economic ecosystem once the projects were completed.
Apart from the Mumbai–Ahmedabad route (1 hour 57 minutes), he also announced travel times of 48 minutes between Mumbai and Pune, 73 minutes between Bengaluru and Chennai, 2 hours 10 minutes between Bengaluru and Hyderabad, 2 hours 8 minutes between Pune and Hyderabad, 2 hours between Delhi and Lucknow, 3 hours 15 minutes between Delhi and Varanasi, and 6 hours between Delhi and Siliguri.
The announcement from the Center comes as the government continues to step up its high speed railway expansion across the country. Earlier this week, Ashwini Vaishnaw and Bihar chief minister Samrat Choudhary inaugurated a new weekly train service between Chhapra Junction and Anand Vihar Terminal.
During the event, Vaishnaw also virtually flagged off two additional train services connecting Maul to Delhi and Zahirghat to Varanasi. Addressing the gathering, Vaishnaw said Bihar would receive more than 200 new trains over the next seven to eight years as part of a major railway expansion programme.
(Rohit Kumar)
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