Union Cabinet Set To Approve 2 Semi-High Speed Train Projects, 8 More Corridors In The Offing

The Union Cabinet is expected to soon provide clearance to two ambitious semi-high speed train corridor — New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Howrah, Business Standard reported.

The estimated investment for implementing the two semi-high speed projects is pegged at anywhere between Rs 13,000 crore to Rs 18,000 crore. While the New Delhi-Mumbai train will cover 1,483 route km, the New Delhi-Howrah train will traverse 1,525 route km.

As per classification followed by Indian Railways, semi-high-speed trains include those travelling at 160-200 km per hour (kmph) and high-speed ones are those that travel at around 300 kmph.

Indian Railways currently operates the only semi-high speed train - the Gatimaan Express, which runs between Hazrat Nizamuddin and Agra Cantonment, and is the fastest train in the country.

While the investment for the New Delhi-Mumbai route (including Vadodara-Ahmedabad) will be around Rs 11,000 crore, the New Delhi-Howrah route (including Kanpur-Lucknow) is estimated to cost around Rs 7,000 crore.

Indian Railways is currently working on designing eight other semi-high-speed routes.

Delhi-Chandigarh (Feasibility-cum implementation study awarded to SNCF (France) on cost sharing basis)

Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysore ( Feasibility Study for upgradation of speed awarded to ERYUAN Group of Chinese Railways at their cost)

The 6 more corridors for feasibility of semi high speed rail include Delhi-Kanpur, Nagpur-Bilaspur, Mumbai-Goa, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Chennai- Hyderabad and Nagpur - Secunderabad

Russian Railways (RZD) is currently undertaking the third and final stage of the feasibility study for the Nagpur-Secunderabad semi-high speed rail project. The feasibility report will be finalised by September.

RZD has also expressed its interest in participating in the construction of this line.

The feasibility study for the proposed 575-km Nagpur-Secunderabad high speed railway line that envisages to increase the speed of passenger trains to 200 kmph was commissioned in June 2017.

The proposed high speed line, that is divided into two sections, Nagpur-Ballarshah and the Ballarshah-Secunderabad, has 1,770 bridges and culverts including 18 major bridges with a length of more than 100 meters.

The rail distance between the two cities is 575 km. The Superfast Rajdhani Express currently takes 7 hours and 50 minutes to cover the distance with an average speed of about 80 kmph and top speed of 130 kmph. Other fast trains take over 10 hours to cover the distance. High speed rail is expected to cover the distance in less than 3 hours.