A semi high speed train between New Delhi and Mumbai are in the cards, stated Indian authorities, inviting a team of experts from Japan to visit the subcontinent and analyse the feasibility of the project.
The semi high-speed rail idea, first proposed in February this year, seeks to raise speed of passenger trains up to 200kmph on existing tracks halving travel time on this vital route between the country's capital and financial hub down from 16 hours to just seven hours, states the Economic Times, a respected local daily.
The study and the much-needed project itself “is being undertaken with help from Japan,” stated the Indian ministry of railways. A team from Mitsubishi Research Institute arrived in India last week to analyse the existing tracks on this route for their upgrade. This move will provide a legitimate alternative link between the two major metropolitan cities, which is currently served 61 times per day by a plethora of airlines.
High-speed trains, such as the ones zipping around China, run at speeds of at least 250kmph and would require entirely different infrastructure and tracks. Alternatively, by simply upgrading the tracks to accommodate trains running at 200kmph authorities will save on costs of acquiring new land and building completely new networks from the ground up. The government is also looking into similar projects for train links between Mumbai-Kolkata, Chennai-Bangalore, Delhi-Jaipur and Ahmedabad-Mumbai.
Alisha Haridasani
