Japan Railway Technical Service, along with Parsons Brinckerhoff India, has won a contract to conduct the pre-feasibility study on the proposed route for running high speed trains between Hyderabad and Chennai.
The new high speed rail service will run between Hyderabad-Vijayawada-Chennai and will cover a distance of 664 km in just two km hours.
South Central Railway (SCR) Chief PRO K Sambasiva Rao said:
“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.”
More than 13 bidders were eyeing up the high speed rail project.
The study is expected to cost the SCR railways about Rs 3.5 crore and the consortium has been given seven months to submit the report.
In order to push high speed rail projects in the country, the government has set up the National High Speed Rail Authority, which will be solely responsible for setting up bullet train services in the country.
According to an estimate, one km of high speed rail project will cost Rs 100 crore to Indian Railways who have made it clear that they are looking to develop the six proposed projects on the public private partnership (PPP) model.
Japan is eyeing for high speed rail market and is planning to sell its high speed trains Shinkansen to India, which operate at a speed of up to 300 km per hour and are known for their punctuality, comfort, safety and efficiency.
Japan was the first country to build dedicated railway lines for high speed travel.
The six rail corridors that are under study by the Government are:
- Pune- Mumbai- Ahmedabad, completed by Systra, Italferr and RITES)
- Delhi- Chandigarh – Amritsar
- Delhi – Agra-Luknow-Varanasi-Patna, Mott MacDonald (UK)
- Haldia – Howrah route completed by Ineco along with Prointec and Ayesa
- Hyderabad – Dornakal – Vijayawada – Chennai, JARTS with Parsons Brinckerhoff India
- Chennai -Bangalore – Coimbatore – Ernakulam.
