New Delhi: In a major infrastructure boost, India might soon witness more high-speed bullet trains ferrying passengers on several routes. Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
This includes the routes of Delhi to Varanasi, Delhi to Amritsar, Delhi to Ahmedabad, Mumbai to Nagpur, Mumbai to Hyderabad, Chennai to Mysore via Bangalore, and Varanasi to Howrah.
The Union Minister also informed that presently, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail is the only sanctioned High-Speed Rail project in the country being executed with the technical and financial assistance of the Government of Japan.
For Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project, all Statutory Clearances relating to wildlife, Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ), and Forest clearance have been obtained by Railways. Out of total land requirement of approx. 1396 hectares, about 1193 hectares of land has been acquired.
"Out of total 352 KM length in Gujarat and Dadra & Nagar Haveli (DNH), civil works in 342 KM length have started," Railway Minister replied.
He also said that the entire project has been divided into 27 contract packages. At present, 12 packages have been awarded, 3 are under evaluation and tenders have been invited for 4 packages.
As the work on this project has been slow, with challenges in land acquisition, the Minister said in his reply that the anticipated cost increase and timeline can be fully ascertained only after completion of land acquisition and finalization of all contracts.
On a question related to Vistadome coaches, he informed the House that at present, 45 trains over Zonal Railways are being operated with Vistadome coaches in their composition.
This includes Mumbai-Pune Express, Deccan Queen Express of Central Railways, Visakhapatnam-Kirandul Express of East coast Railway, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (NG) of Northeast Frontier Railway, Ahmedabad-Kevadiya Express of Western Railway, Yeswantpur-Mangalore Express, Yeswantpur-Karwar Express of South Western Railway, Kalka - Shimla Express of Northern Railway and Mailani-Bichia Special of North Eastern Railway and many others.
