Following a high-level meeting at the Railway Board, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) has been directed to take immediate action to ensure timely progress, an official said. “As part of the roadmap, detailed project reports (DPRs) for completed corridors will be updated with current cost estimates to enable accurate financial viability assessments,” he added.
The proposed corridors, spanning around 4,000 kilometres and likely to cost around Rs 16 trillion, include Mumbai–Pune, Pune–Hyderabad, Hyderabad–Bengaluru, Hyderabad–Chennai, Chennai–Bengaluru, Delhi–Varanasi, and Varanasi–Siliguri.
The official said that the Railway Board has also called for the standardisation of high-speed rail systems across India, creation of dedicated field-based core teams for each project, and initiation of pre-construction activities, including contract documentation.
“Planning for trained technical manpower to support upcoming high-speed rail projects has also been emphasised to ensure readiness for large-scale implementation. Progress on all action points will be reviewed at an appropriate level,” he added.
“The country has gone up the learning curve during the first Mumbai–Ahmedabad corridor. Today, our engineers understand the technology — civil, overhead equipment, signalling systems, rolling stock, station construction, and others. This is a significant change. We have to build upon that experience,” Vaishnaw had said.
