High-speed train via Bengaluru to reach Chennai in just 2 hours and 25 minutes
New Delhi: The Railways has identified six sections including the 435-km Mysuru-Bengaluru-Chennai for high-speed and semi-high-speed corridors, Railway Board Chairman V.K. Yadav said yesterday, adding that a Detailed Project Report (DPR) on these sections will be ready within a year.
The new corridors will join the under-construction Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed route. Trains can run at a maximum speed of over 320 km per hour on a high-speed corridor, while on a semi-high speed corridor, the maximum speed can go beyond 160 km per hour.
In a briefing ahead of the Union Budget, Yadav said the six corridors include the Delhi-Noida-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi (865 km) and the Delhi-Jaipur-Udaipur-Ahmedabad (886 km) sections. Other corridors are: Mumbai-Nashik-Nagpur (753 km), Mumbai-Pune-Hyderabad (711 km), Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru (435 km) and the Delhi-Chandigarh-Ludhiana-Jalandhar-Amritsar (459 km) sections.
“We have identified these six corridors and their DPR will be prepared within a year. The DPR will study the feasibility of these routes which includes land availability, alignment and a study of the traffic potential there. After these things are studied, we will decide if they will be high-speed or semi-high-speed corridors,” said Yadav.
It may be mentioned here that in August 2017, the Union Government had approved high-speed train between Mysuru and Chennai via Bengaluru.
In his presentation to the then Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, the then Karnataka Chief Minister, Siddharamaiah had made a case for introduction of the high-speed train in addition to the Shatabdi train between Bengaluru and Chennai.
In November 2018, Germany had submitted its final feasibility report for the 435-km high-speed rail corridor between Mysuru-Bengaluru-Chennai to Indian Railways. Earlier, Japan had evinced keen interest on the project and had submitted a report in that regard. However, later Germany was asked to take up the feasibility study project.
Two hours and 25 minutes to Chennai
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.
Integrated with existing rail lines
The key result of the feasibility study is that the high-speed train on the route is not only feasible but also manageable. The Germans have proposed that high-speed Railway should be integrated with the existing rail lines to reduce land acquisition issues.
The final proposal by Germany aims to implement the project by 2030 at a cost of Rs.1 lakh crore (16 billion dollars).
According to the proposal, 85 percent of the line is proposed to be elevated and 11 percent through tunnels. The rest five percent will be ‘on grade.’
Wasting taxpayers money has become hallmark of Modi. It is unfortunate that people instead of questioning the needs for such useless expenditure, calls it Vikas. Why the government is not working on improving the existing infrastructure?
If an Express train 16217/Mysuru – Sainagar Shirdi Weekly Express or 16518/Kannur – KSR Bengaluru Express can reach Bengaluru in 2 hours 30 minutes, why a Superfast train 12610/Mysuru – MGR Chennai Central SF Express takes 3 hours or an Express train 16315/Mysuru – Kochuveli Express takes 3 hours and 45 minutes?
06562/Mysuru – Yelahanka MEMU Special takes 2 hours and 25 minutes which no Express train (except 11065/Mysuru – Renigunta Weekly Express) can reach, why? There are 5 Superfast Trains and 16 Express trains running slower than this MEMU, while passengers are paying more in slower trains. Why can’t the government invest money to improve the existing infrastructure?
Most of the time train 12008/Mysuru – MGR Chennai Central Shatabdi Express and 12613/Tippu SF Express are made to stand outside KSR Bengaluru City Junction due to lack of free platform. Trains coming from Mysore cannot arrive at platform 1, 2, 3 and 4 due to lack of connectivity. Why the government not interested in fixing these issues instead of investing crores in a project which is of no use to the common man?
Common Man will not be able to use it as fare will be quite high… Seats will b empty… Waste of money… Instead improve the existing system
better go back and settle in pakistan
You sure have a jaundiced view of the world , Just because Mohammed Khasimi made a comment that you did not like , you have no right to tell him to ” go back and settle in pakistan”
@raga You are a typical ignorant Indian we find in posters who cannot countenance any analysis against what the government does. Mr Khassimi raises very good points and analyses the issues which need to be addressed, instead of venturing o an expensive high speed train whose tickets will cost an arm and a leg for average travellers. This seems to be a project to show off that in India too there can be world class fast trains, just like Chandrayaan, a show off project which will be used very few non-rich passengers.