Indian Railways Mulling High Speed Trains

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DELHI, INDIA (GaeaTimes.com)- The cherished dream of the Indian Railways to introduce passenger trains running at high speed may become a reality in near future. The railway ministry has given the nod for carrying out pre feasibility study on half dozen routes across the country for running such trains. The respective state governments have also agreed to bear the cost while the railways will share a part of it. The nod has come from Mamata Banerjee the Union Railways minister. The six corridors picked by the railways for this study are Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar, Hyderabad- Chennai, Howrah-Haldia, Chennai- Ernakulam, Pune- Ahmedabad and Delhi-Patna. The Railway officials said that in order to compete with the air services the need to introduce high speed passenger trains has become imperative. The Railways is mulling the introduction of service following the examples of the European countries.

The Indian Railway officials said that among the 6 corridors the Patna -Delhi route is most suitable. This route has new tracks which are capable of supporting trains running at very high speed. However, the route needs an overhaul in signaling service. The proposed per-feasibility survey would cost INR 11 crore as it has been reported. The rail veterans think such projects can boost the revenue of the railways. A lot of elite passengers who opt for flights in short distance routes are likely to flock to railways once such services are introduced.

Indian railways has introduced a number of changes in its service and has also focused on running trains catering to special segment of passengers in recent times. The high speed trains will run along these corridors at 200 kmph.