Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday (3 March) outlined an ambitious roadmap for expanding India’s high-speed rail network, unveiling a vision to develop 7,000 km of bullet train corridors by 2039-40, and 21,000 km in the long-run.
Addressing the Budget Webinar on “Sustaining and Strengthening Economic Growth: Infrastructure, Logistics & Freight”, the minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved seven new high-speed passenger corridors spanning 4,000 Km, with an estimated investment of Rs 16 lakh crore, to be completed over the next 10 years.
The minister noted that to meet this target, Indian Railways will need to commission nearly 500 Km of high-speed rail annually, effectively building a corridor equivalent to the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project every year.
Vaishnaw added that plans are also underway to sanction an additional 3,000 km high-speed rail corridors, taking the total envisioned network to 7,000 Km by 2039-40, with a long-term projection of 15,000-21,000 Km.
“We will also be sanctioning 3,000 km high-speed corridors, which means by 2039-40, we should have about 7,000 km and then we have to move towards 15,000 and then 21,000 km of high-speed rail network,” the minister said.
Highlighting progress on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor, Vaishnaw described it as a steep learning curve, noting that operations beyond 160 Km per hour increase design and operational complexity exponentially.
