Bullet train between Hyderabad and Chennai in the offing

HYDERABAD: If Indian Railways has its way, commuting between Hyderabad and Chennai in a few years will be just a little over two hours and terribly cheaper as compared to a flight. Hinting at such a possibility, a senior railway ministry official said in New Delhi on Thursday that a Japanese consortium has bagged the contract for a pre-feasibility study for running a bullet train on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada-Chennai corridor.

If it works out, at a speed of 300 km per hour, the train will cover the 664 km distance between Hyderabad and Chennai in just little over two hours. South Central Railway (SCR) officials became jubilant over such a development, though they indicated that they are still awaiting the details of the project. "Besides reducing the travel time between the two cities by almost 12 hours, the bullet train will transform the economy of the region as well as greatly contribute to the economic growth of both Hyderabad and Chennai," SCR chief PRO K Sambasiva Rao told TOI.

Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro) and Oriental Consultancy along with Parsons Brinkhoff India has bagged the contract to conduct the pre-feasibility study on the proposed route for running the high speed train, a senior Railway Ministry official said.

Japan's high speed trains Shinkansen operate at a speed of up to 300 km per hour and are known for their punctuality, comfort, safety and efficiency.The consortium will submit the report in seven months. The study is expected to cost the railways about Rs 3. 5 crore. There were 13 bidders for the high speed rail project.

In order to expedite the bullet train project, Railways is in the process of constituting the National High Speed Rail Authority on the lines of the National Highways Authority.

According to an estimate, it will cost about Rs 100 crore to construct a one-km dedicated high speed corridor. As per the preliminary report, ridership revenues would be able to cover the operating cost of the project. State governments and financial institutions are expected to be stakeholders of the high speed rail corridor project as these projects will be executed through PPP mode.