INDIAN Railways (IR) has initiated a feasibility study and begun the process of preparing a detailed project report for a proposed high-speed line to connect Amravati, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai in the south of India.
IR has tasked Rail India Technical and Economic Service (Rites) to conduct the final alignment survey and undertake a topographical assessment and early design considerations.
In addition to the under-construction Mumbai - Ahmedabad high-speed line, the National Rail Plan 2050 has identified seven potential high-speed routes for development: Delhi - Varanasi, Delhi - Ahmedabad, Mumbai - Nagpur, Mumbai - Hyderabad, Chennai - Mysore, Delhi - Amritsar and Varanasi - Howrah.
The inclusion of the new route is being pushed by the Andhra Pradesh chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu. Naidu’s party, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), is a key coalition partner of India’s BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
“The high-speed rail line connecting the four south Indian cities, when complete, will cater to more than 50 million people in a region projected to emerge as one of the biggest markets in the world,” Naidu recently said.
Significantly, Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, has also expressed optimism on the high-speed plans. During last week's visit to Japan, Modi told a local newspaper that, while the Mumbai - Ahmedabad project was progressing, India has a larger ambition to construct a 7000km network.
The 705km Hyderabad - Bengaluru corridor will, in all likelihood, be elevated and designed to support a design speed of 350km/h and operational speeds of 320km/h, officials indicated.
The line is expected to reduce travel time between the two cities from the current 12-14 hours to approximately two hours. The project is likely to take a minimum of 15 years from the date of sanction, officials said.
For detailed data on high-speed rail projects from around the world, subscribe to IRJ Pro.
