Bullet train project: Railway Board directs NHSRCL to prepare DPRs for seven new high-speed rail corridors

Officials said that at a high-level meeting, the Railway Board asked NHSRCL to take immediate steps to initiate implementation of the projects. It was also decided that the DPRs for corridors where studies have been completed would be updated with current cost estimates for the assessments of financial viability.

NHSRCL had earlier submitted DPRs for seven corridors namely Delhi-Varanasi, Delhi-Ahmedabad, Mumbai-Nagpur, Mumbai-Hyderabad, Chennai-Mysore, Delhi-Amritsar and Varanasi-Howrah. These are currently being examined. While the seven new corridors announced in the recent Budget are not identical, they are interlinked with the earlier proposals.

Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw earlier said these seven corridors — spanning 4,000 km — will cost Rs 16 lakh crore.

The Board also directed that the standards of high-speed rail systems across India should be maintained. It has directed that there should be a dedicated field-based core team for each project, including initiation of pre-construction activities, and the preparation of contract documentation, among others.

“In the meeting, it was highlighted that there should be a robust manpower of trained technical people for the high-speed rail projects. Along with this, the progress on the identified action points will be reviewed at the highest level. This is necessary for the next phase of the Bullet train project,” said a senior railway official.

The first stretch of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor, between Surat and Billimora, is scheduled to become operational by August 15, 2027. This will be followed by Vapi-Surat, Vapi-Ahmedabad, and Thane-Ahmedabad sections, respectively. The entire corridor will be operational by 2029.

The cost of the first Bullet train project has almost doubled to Rs 1.98 lakh crore from an estimated cost of Rs 1.08 lakh crore.