Railways plans bullet trains from Bangalore

The Indian Railways has proposed to introduce bullet trains from Bangalore to four different destinations.

Railway Board Chairperson J B Batra held a meeting with Karnataka Chief Secretary P B Mahishi in Bangalore on Saturday and discussed with him the feasibility of operating bullet trains from Bangalore to Chennai, Mysore, Kochi and Hubli.

Bullet trains that run at minimum speed of 250 kms per hour and a maximum speed of 400 kms per hour can substantially reduce the travel time between Bangalore and the chosen destinations.

Batra told reporters that the existing infrastructure was not fit to run bullet trains. A separate speed corridor has to be developed under a public-private participation scheme for introduction of bullet trains. The public-private enterprise can even consider floating equities, Batra added.

Though the introduction of bullet trains was still in at the discussion stage, Mahishi had agreed to extend all support to Railways’ proposal.

Railway officials said the ambitious project, which already been approved in the Railway Budget, requires not only dedicated railway tracks, but also specialist trains. The high-end service of the Indian Railways is expected to cost a whopping Rs 20 to 30 million for every kilometer of the track that is likely to deploy magnetic levitation technology to achieve high speeds.

Travel by the proposed bullet train, which is expected to bring down the journey time between Bangalore and Chennai from the existing seven hours down to just one hour, will cost as much as air-fare, said railway officials.