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Government Plans To Connect Four Major Metros With 10,000 Km High-Speed Rail Network By 2022
Talgo Train running between Delhi-Mumbai. (AJay Aggarwal/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
The Indian Railways’ ambitious project of reducing travel time by interconnecting four major metros - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata - with a high-speed network of trains running at 160kmph is looking at an August 2022 launch, sources said.
The current average speed of trains on this network is around 88-90kmph. Christened “Golden Quadrilateral”, the project envisages creation of a 10,000-km network of semi-high speed routes connecting the four major cities and is likely to be launched on 15 August 2022, to coincide with 75 years of Independence.
In a meeting on 28 November, the railway board started the process of drawing up a blueprint to interconnect the four metros: Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Howrah, Delhi-Chennai, Chennai-Howrah, Chennai-Mumbai and Howrah-Mumbai.
While the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes were included in Budget 2017-2018 at a cost of Rs 11,189 crore and Rs 6,975 crore respectively, the estimates for the other four routes are under process for inclusion in the works programme 2018-2019.
The board is likely to finalize a detailed cost estimate for the remaining routes by 31 December this year, officials said. Sources in the ministry say that an extra budgetary allocation of around Rs 36,000 crore will be required for the project. (PTI)
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