Mysore/Mysuru: Following the Union Government identifying Mysuru-Bengaluru-Chennai as one of the six corridors in the nation for a High-Speed Rail, the dreams of high-speed travel between Mysuru and Chennai has been revived after a long hiatus. 

Giving a further boost to the project, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRL) has called two separate tenders to identify preliminary route and final alignment design for the project, along with five other corridors across the country with total length of 8,218 kms.

On Jan. 29, Railway Board Chairman V.K. Yadav had stated that Railways had identified six sections including the 435-km Mysuru-Bengaluru-Chennai for high-speed and semi-high-speed corridors.

Announcing the project to bidders, NHSRL said it would be ushering India into the club of 15 countries in the world using high-speed rail system. The work on preliminary route alignment, likely to be awarded by June, has a deadline of six months. 

The work on designing final alignment, including LiDAR aerial survey and related works, will have to be completed in 470 days after awarding of contract. 

LiDAR surveying method measures the distance to a target by illuminating the target with laser light and measuring the reflected light with a sensor. 

According to the tender details, the study will have to be conducted to develop a route through which 300 kilometre per hour speed can be achieved. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) is likely to be prepared by the National High Speed Rail Corporation of India once the survey is completed. 

During the survey, a realistic data will be collected to prepare a preliminary route development based on certain parameters including connectivity to the city, the available infrastructure, land acquisition and environmental impact.

Once the project is implemented, the high-speed train from Mysuru to Chennai via Bengaluru will take just two hours and 25 minutes as against the current seven hours in Shatabdi Express which is the fastest train on this route. On a normal train journey, it takes over 10 hours to travel between the two cities. Shatabdi travels at a maximum speed of 110 kms per hour.

The bullet train will run at a maximum speed of 320 kilometres per hour and the actual distance from Mysuru to Chennai is over 485 kilometres while the bullet train corridor will be 435 kilometres. Going by the train speed, it can cover the 145-km distance from Mysuru to Bengaluru in just 45 minutes.

The concept of high-speed Railway between Mysuru and Chennai was first proposed in the financial year 2008-2009. China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group conducted the first interim feasibility study in June 2015 and subsequently, Germany was asked to take up the feasibility study project and a report was submitted to the Railway Board in November 2018.