Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed link: Report tabled

The final report on the high-speed rail corridor between Pune and Ahmedabad through Mumbai is under examination by concerned stakeholders.

The Maharashtra and Gujarat governments, Central and Western Railways and various directorates of the railways ministry are perusing the final report submitted by the Systra Group, a New Jersey, US-based consultant.

“Systra was appointed in April last year. It has submitted an inception report, two interim reports and one draft final report,” said a senior official of the ministry, who did not wish to be named.

He did not put a timeline for the completion of the project.

The trains in the corridor will run at speeds of 200km per hour, or 70kmph more than the maximum speed of a Rajdhani.

The railway ministry is working in tandem with the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, for the right track technology for these super-fast trains.

As of now, deliberations are going on in the railway ministry whether the corridor should be elevated, or access controlled (protected from trespassing or crossing).

Apart from Pune-Ahmedabad, five more corridors have been identified by the the Indian Railways on which pre-feasibility studies are on.

These studies are aimed at finding out the economic viability, the right alignment, and over all socio-economic impact in the surrounding areas.

The six other corridors are Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar, spanning 450km, Hyderabad-Vijaywada-Chennai (664km), Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam (649km), Howrah-Haldia (135km), and Delhi-Agra-Varanasi-Patna (991km).

The concerned state governments will share 50% of the consultancy cost for the above corridors.

For any other corridor, the state government will have to bear 80% of the cost, while the balance will be taken up by the railways.

A particular state will have to shell out its contribution in proportion to the length of corridor within its jurisdiction. Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Bihar, Haryana, UP, West Bengal as well as Punjab and Chandigarh have agreed to sharing the consultancy cost on 50:50 basis.

The ministry is waiting for Tamil Nadu’s nod.