Centre planning 7 new bullet train corridors at Rs 10 lakh crore: Report

Representative Image

The Centre has plans for seven more bullet train projects worth Rs 10 lakh crore even as COVID-19 and land acquisition issues have delayed the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor by five years.

Covering a distance of 4,869 kilometres, cost per kilometre would be Rs 213 crore. The corridors will be Delhi-Ahmedabad, Delhi-Amritsar, Delhi-Varanasi, Chennai-Mysore, Mumbai-Hyderabad, Mumbai-Nagpur and Varanasi-Howrah, sources told the Business Standard.

Achal Khare, Managing Director, National High-Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL) told the paper that cost will be determined after detailed project reports (DRPs) of the new corridors are done.

Follow our LIVE Updates on the coronavirus pandemic here

“The government has asked for DRPs of the seven new corridors. Capital costs can be decided only after the DPR is prepared, as a lot of things like terrains and route length are a factor," Khare said.

A senior official told the paper the NHSRC has already acquired 63 percent of the land required for the new corridors – including 80 percent in Dadar and Nagar Haveli, 77 percent in Gujarat, and 22 percent in Maharashtra. Land acquisition issues in Navsari (Gujarat) and Palghar (Maharashtra) are yet to be sorted, they added.

The official also added that not all corridors will be built using Japanese Shinkansen technology. Thus, the cost for the newer projects may differ from the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

The 508 km Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor is being built at a cost of Rs 1.08 lakh crore and uses Shinkansen technology. It was scheduled to be completed by December 2023, but land acquisition issues and difficulty in issuing tenders due to the coronavirus pandemic have delayed the project till October 2028.

Follow our full COVID-19 coverage here