The concept of high-speed travel between Mysuru and Bengaluru so as to cover the 139 km distance between the two cities in less than an hour is back in the reckoning after a long hiatus.
Railway Board Chairman V.K. Yadav on Wednesday announced that the Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru route was one of the six new high-speed corridors to be implemented by the railways, which has re-kindled hopes of faster, improved connectivity between the two cities.
According to officials, the Detailed Project Report (DPR) is likely to be prepared by the National High Speed Rail Corporation of India Ltd. which is to implement the project though no final decision has been taken regarding it.
Incidentally, a feasibility study for increasing the speed on this section was given to China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group and it had submitted its interim report in June 2015. But subsequently, Germany conducted a fresh feasibility study on the route and submitted the report to the Railway Board in November 2018. The study was fully funded by Germany and the report is reckoned to have spoken positively in favour of the high-speed corridor and is expected to cost around ₹1 lakh crore.
The concept of a high-speed railway is not new and was first proposed in 2008-09 but it remained on paper. But subsequently efforts were made to decrease the running time between Mysuru and Bengaluru by speeding up the trains. A technical survey was conducted by the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. and High Speed Rail Corporation (HSRC) to assess the feasibility of running trains at speeds in excess of 160 kmph on the section
But a preliminary survey indicated that top speed in excess of 160 kmph could not be attained for greater part of the journey as there were 135 curves of which as many as 37 curves had a curvature of 5 degree.
Subsequently, the authorities put the issue on the back burner while there were suggestions that a semi-high speed corridor would be feasible as it entailed increasing the average speed to around 120 kmph between the two cities so as to cover the distance of 139 km in around 75 minutes.
This called for reducing the curvature in some sections by realigning the track besides replacing the 52 kg per metre rail with 60 kg per metre rails. It would not have cost more than a few hundred crores of rupees and was reckoned to be feasible. But there was no further development or news about high-speed travel until the fresh announcement made on Wednesday.
Consequent to track doubling and completion of electrification the travel time between the two cities is a little less than 2 hours (as in case of Shatabdi Express) and around 2.30 hours in case of other express trains. Nearly 20,000 people travel daily in each direction and there are 34 pairs of trains (including non-daily services) operating between the two cities.
