The Indian Railways, under the guidance of railways minister Suresh Prabhu, is trying its best to provide world class facilities to its passengers.
As per a report in Financial Express, the department is carrying out various high-speed feasibility tests. These tests are carried out to decrease the running time of trains on the Golden Quadrilateral network.
According to the report of a test which was done on Delhi-Kolkata route, the journey from Delhi to Varanasi will take 2 hours and 37 minutes in a bullet train while the same report also says that the distance between Delhi and Lucknow will be covered in just 1 hour and 38 minutes.
Indian Railways spokesperson Anil Saxena told Financialexpress.com,
“This study is being done by three Messrs – Spain’s INECO, TYPSA and ICT. Right now the draft final report has been submitted to Railways. Various divisions will now study and give their inputs, which in turn will be incorporated by these firms in their final report. The final report will be submitted to the Railway Board in 2 months time and after that, a decision on the project will be taken.”
As far as the cost is concerned, the report says that the total cost of Delhi-Kolkata route will be around Rs. 1.21 lakh crore. Delhi-Varanasi corridor will take 10 years to complete and it will cost around Rs. 52,860 crore if started in 2021 while Delhi-Lucknow corridor will finish by 2029.
The report also stated that 300 km/hr will be the maximum operational speed and 250 km/hr will be commercial speed.
The passenger will need to pay Rs.4.5 per km as fare for the train, so the fare for Delhi-Varanasi route will be Rs. 3240 and for Delhi-Lucknow, it will be Rs.1980.
Looking forward to these high-speed trains!
