High Speed Railway

• A road map developed to increase speed of trains by overcoming the existing impediments on Principal routes of the railways on Golden Quadrilateral(GQ) along with diagonals (Delhi – Mumbai, Delhi – Howrah, Howrah- Chennai, Chennai – Mumbai, Delhi – Chennai and Howrah – Mumbai) due to fixed infrastructure, movable infrastructure, and operational practices.
• Projects for two routes viz. New Delhi- Mumbai Central (including Vadodara- Ahmedabad) and New Delhi- Howrah (including Kanpur- Lucknow) for raising of speed to 160/200 kmph have been included in WP 2017-18 at Rs 18,000 crores approximately.

Speed Enhancement project entails works such as through fencing, removal of level crossings, train protection warning system (TPWS), mobile train radio communication (MTRC), automated and mechanized diagnostic systems, etc. which will considerably enhance safety and reliability. The main outcome of the implementation of the projects is increase in the maximum speed of the trains to 160/200 kmph. This will reduce the travel time of premium Rajdhani type trains to 12 hours as against the present travel time of 17 hours for Howrah Rajdhani and 15 hours 35 minutes for Mumbai Rajdhani.

India’s First Bullet Train

• The government proposes to start the services on August 15, 2022 to mark India’s 75th year of Independence.
• India’s first bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai will run at a maximum speed of 350 km per hour, covering the 508-km stretch in under three hours.
• The ambitious project, which was launched in September 2017 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, would cost around Rs 1.10 lakh crore.
• The bullet train would run at an average speed of 320 km per hour and at a maximum speed of 350 km per hour. It will stop at 12 railway stations on the route but only for 165 seconds each. A 21-km-long tunnel will be dug between Boisar and BKC in Mumbai, of which seven km will be under water.
• The railways will only require around 825 hectares of land for the project as 92 per cent of the route will be elevated, six per cent would go through tunnels and only the remaining two per cent would be on the ground.
• The railways would run around 35 bullet trains when it starts operation with about 70 trips per day. The number of trains would be increased to 105 trains in 2050.

Maglev Trains

Indian Railways is exploring the option of introducing Maglev Trains in India. “MAGLEV” stands for MaGnetic LEVitation. The MAGLEV floats above the track on a “Cushion” of magnetic field. Magnets on the track push and lift the MAGLEV up in air by about 1 inch to 6 inches. These “track” magnets are controlled by computers which keep shiftingforward the magnetic force of the “track” magnets so that the MAGLEV is pulled forward.

As the train levitates above the rails, the friction between the wheel and the rail is reduced drastically. This aides the trains to achieve very high speeds. Maximum speed achieved by the MAGLEV train is 500 km/h. One commercial installation is in China in Shanghai (appx 38 km of MAGLEV) and is currently running commercially. New technologies are coming up to decrease the power consumption of magnets that lift the MAGLEV by using liquid nitrogen or similar gases.

Semi High-Speed Studies

• Delhi-Chandigarh (244 km): Final report of feasibility cum implementation study of New Delhi-Chandigarh Corridor for raising the speed of passenger trains to 200 kmph by SNCF/France has been received. Report under scrutiny.
• Nagpur – Secunderabad (575 km): A Protocol under co-operation MoU has been signed between Ministry of Railways and Russian Railways for carrying out feasibility cum implementation study. Work started in June 2016 and progressing as per schedule.
• Chennai- Kazipet by German Railways: Joint declaration of intent has been signed between both the parties on 10/10/17 for raising the speed of passenger trains to 200kmph on the existing route on 50:50 cost sharing basis. The feasibility study shall be carried out after signing a separate agreement, which is under finalization.
• Feasibility study for High Speed Rail on Mysuru-Bengaluru-Chennai through Government to Government (G2G) with the Government of Germany has commenced.