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Introduction of bullet trains starting off with the Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector and an ambitious plan to have a Diamond Quadrilateral network of high speed rail connecting major metros and growth centres are on the anvil.
The announcement was part of the Rail Budget presented by Railway Minister D V Sadananda Gowda in Lok Sabha today which also spoke of efforts to increase the speed of trains in select sectors to up to 200 km per hour.
The Rail Budget has identified nine sectors in this regard that includes the prestigious Delhi-Agra rail line and the busy Delhi-Chandigarh and Mumbai-Ahmedabad sectors.
Besides, the speed of trains is to be increased to 160-200 km in the Delhi-Kanpur, Nagpur-Bilaspur, Mysore-Bengaluru- Chennai, Mumbai-Goa, Chennai-Hyderabad and Nagpur-Secuderabad sectors.
A provision of Rs 100 crore has been made in the Budget for High Speed project to Railway Vikas Nigham Limited/High Speed Rail Corridor for taking further steps.
"It is the wish and dream of every Indian that India runs a bullet train as early as possible. Indian Railways is on its way to fulfil that long cherished dream," Gowda said.
The Minister said while bullet trais will require completely new infrastructure, higher speed for existing trains will be achieved by upgrading the present network.
"Hence, an effort will be made to increase the speed of trains to 160-200 kmph in select sectors to significantly reduce travel time between major cities," he said.
