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Monday, Dec 03, 2007
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High-speed passenger trains proposed

Sandeep Joshi

— Photo: S. Subramanium

SHOWCASING THE FUTURE: A billboard, featuring a high-speed train, on display at a recent railway meet in New Delhi.

NEW DELHI: The Railway Ministry is busy evolving plans to run high-speed passenger trains on dedicated tracks to cut the travel time between major cities. Nine State governments have agreed to cooperate with it on the issue of land and sharing of costs.

The Ministry had approached 12 States on participating in pre-feasibility studies for running high-speed trains between their capitals and major cities. Of them, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka, and West Bengal gave their “in principle” approval, official sources said.

The sources said pre-feasibility studies would begin soon in these States.

The studies would take about two years and on the basis of their recommendations projects would be implemented.

The Railways announced a plan to operate bullet trains that would run at 250 km per hour but dropped the idea in view of the high cost.

The Railways are trying to reduce the travel time by cutting the number of halts, introducing new efficient locomotives and light-weight ultra-modern coaches. Focus is also on upgrading the signalling system and strengthening the tracks.

The Railways had succeeded in reducing the travel time of several South-bound trains between 30 minutes and two hours.

Efforts are on to reduce the travel time on the busy Delhi-Kanpur section.

The Railways have also short-listed a few express trains to increase their speed up to 100 km per hour.

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