Railways studying feasibility of high-speed rail on 3 Golden Quadrilateral routes

 New Delhi:  The railways undertook feasibility studies on three Golden Quadrilateral routes -- Delhi-Kolkata, Delhi-Mumbai and Mumbai-Chennai -- for the development of high-speed rail corridors, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

In a written response to a question, the minister also said the railways prepared detailed project reports (DPR) for establishing high-speed rail (HSR) corridors on seven routes, including Delhi-Varanasi, Delhi-Ahmedabad and Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar.

"The decision to sanction any HSR corridor/project depends on many factors such as the outcome of DPR, techno-economic feasibility, availability of resources and financing options," Vaishnaw said, responding to questions raised by DMK MP P Wilson regarding the details of proposed high-speed rail corridors and whether the government has considered starting bullet train connecting Chennai with New Delhi.

Wilson also asked if the government has devised any vision plan to have bullet train corridors in each state by 2030.

"Till now, the government has sanctioned one high-speed rail project, namely Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project, with technical and financial assistance from the Government of Japan," the minister said.

The three Golden Quadrilateral routes for which feasibility studies have been undertaken are Delhi-Kolkata (1,474 km), Delhi-Mumbai (1,402 km) and Mumbai-Chennai (1,317 km). The Golden Quadrilateral network connects Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

The seven routes for which survey and DPR preparation were undertaken are Delhi-Varanasi (813 km), Delhi- Ahmedabad (878 km), Mumbai-Nagpur (765 km), Mumbai-Hyderabad (671 km), Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysore (435 km approximately), Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar (459 km), and Varanasi-Howrah (760 km approximately).