More power to the Railways!
After the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, India is on its way to the second bullet train project (New Delhi-Varanasi), which will reduce the travel time to two hours and 40 mins. 782 km in less than three hours, that’s some achievement.
All you need to know about the new project:
- It seems that fast-tracking of the Delhi-Varanasi stretch is a part of Narendra Modi’s regime strategy to showcase a pro-development stage ahead of 2017 UP Assembly Polls.
- Although it will take a while for the service to be rolled out, the Delhi-Varanasi project (part of Delhi-Kolkata corridor) has been accorded topmost priority for the Indian Railways after the Mumbai-Ahmedabad stretch.
- It is learnt that the Delhi-Varanasi stretch will pass through Aligarh, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow and Sultanpur, and the travel time between New Delhi and Lucknow (506 km) is likely to be less than two hours (one hour and 45 min to be precise). Additionally, the travel time between Delhi and Kolkata (1,513 km) will be four hours and 55 min.
- It has been reported that the Railways has already roped in a Spanish form to study the feasibility of the high-speed rail corridor. The final report is likely to be submitted in November by the firm.
- While the preliminary cost of the entire Delhi-Kolkata corridor is estimated to be Rs. 84,000 crore, it is Rs. 43,000 crore for the Delhi-Varanasi stretch. As told by an official, the final estimate will only be ascertained once the survey report on the final chosen alignment is presented.
