High speed rail

courtesy : High speed rail

First proposal

One of the first proposals to introduce high-speed trains in India was mooted in the mid-1980s by then Railway Minister Madhavrao Scindia. A high-speed rail line between Delhi and Kanpur via Agra was proposed. An internal study found the proposal to not be viable at that time due to the high cost of construction and the inability of passengers to bear much higher fares than those for normal trains. In a feasibility study published in 1987, RDSO and JICA estimated the construction costs to be ₹4.9 crore per km, for a line dedicated to 250–300 km/h trains. In 2010, the 1987-estimated cost, inflated at 10% a year, would be ₹43.9 crore per km (US$9.5 million/km). The railways instead introduced Shatabdi trains which ran at 140 km/h.

Route plans

The Indian Ministry of Railways’ white-paper “Vision 2020”, submitted to The Parliament of India on 18 December 2009,envisaged the implementation of regional high-speed rail projects to provide services at 250–350 km/h, and planning for corridors connecting commercial, tourist, and pilgrimage hubs. Six corridors were identified for technical studies on setting up of high-speed rail corridors: Delhi–Chandigarh–Amritsar, Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Hyderabad-Warangal-Vijayawada-Chennai, Howrah–Haldia, Chennai-Bengaluru-Coimbatore-Kochi-Thiruvananthapuram, Delhi-Agra-Kanpur-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna-Guwahati. These high-speed rail corridors were planned to be built as elevated corridors.

High Speed Rail Projects in India – Quick Snapshot

High-speed rail corridors with train speeds exceeding 250 km/hour have been proposed in India since the 1980s. Since then various pre-feasibility studies, project reports and pre-design documents have been prepared by multi-national engineering companies and countries (eg. Japan, Spain, France etc.) towards finalizing cost, selecting the right technology, and starting construction work.

In February 2016, the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) was incorporated with an object to finance, construct, maintain and manage all high speed rail corridors in India.

The first route selected for implementing was the Mumbai – Ahmedabad route (with Japanese assistance through its Shinkansen (bullet train) technology), so NHSRCL was was formed with equity participation by the Central Government through Ministry of Railways and the state governments of Gujarat and Maharashtra.

This page provides a quick snapshot with a list of all Indian high speed rail systems – under construction (ongoing), approved (upcoming) and proposed (planned) projects.

# first proposals to introduce high-speed trains

#route plan

# IGBC