New Delhi: Railways has roped in Germany to undertake feasibility study for running high-speed trains on the southern corridor. A high-level German delegation from Germany will conduct feasibility study on Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru section for running the high-speed train. Germany will also bear the expenditure for the study, said a senior Railway Ministry official.

Railway officials have discussed with the German team about raising speed on one of the existing line to 200 km per hour. A meeting was held in this regard in New Delhi yesterday where senior officials discussed various issues involving running high speed train, raising speed on the existing track and redevelopment of stations. Railways also requested Germany to undertake a study of one station for renovation/ redevelopment

The German expertise in the field of high-speed rail, increasing speed of existing routes, station development, multi-modal logistics terminal and automobile logistics are of interest to India.

Semi-high speed train between Chennai and Bengaluru can reduce the travel time between two cities to less than three hours and would need an investment of over Rs. 4,500 crore to convert the existing tracks to run trains at 160 kmph. It takes 7 hours now to reach Chennai in Shatabdi Express. According to railways, Mysore-Bengaluru-Chennai is the toughest section due to difficult terrain and hills especially the Mysore-Bengaluru route.