Nine states show interest in high-speed passenger corridors

New Delhi, Aug 24 (UNI) Nine state governments, including those of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, have agreed 'in principle' to participate in pre-feasibility studies on high speed corridors for passenger trains running at a speed of 300-350 km per hour, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Railways R Velu said during the presentation of this year's budget, it was announced that the Railway Ministry would conduct pre-feasibility studies for construction of high speed passenger corridors.

Mr Velu said the pre-feasibility studies are to be carried out for one high-speed passenger corridor each in the northern, western, southern and eastern regions of the country.

The studies would determine the feasibility of these corridors, to be equipped with state of the art signalling and train control systems, for running high speed trains at the speed of 300 to 350 km per hour.

In this regard, he said various state governments were approached by the Railways to find out their willingness for participating in pre-feasibility studies.

Mr Velu said the governments of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have agreed 'in principle' to participate in pre-feasibility studies.

The average speed of super fast trains on the entire run is minimum 55 kmph on broad gauge and 45 kmph on metre gauge.

He said the Railway Ministry had also conducted a financial and economic analysis for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad and Delhi-Amritsar high-speed rail corridors.

The minister, however, refused to set a time-frame for the execution of the project, saying it was in its initial stage.

UNI