HYDERABAD: The railways is keen on building a new high speed rail (HSR) corridor between Mumbai and Hyderabad to enhance connectivity.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the National Rail Plan (NRP) mentions seven routes including Mumbai-Hyderabad for possible development of HSR network.
According to the NRP, the plan envisages a bullet train network of 709 km between Mumbai and Hyderabad. Official sources said that preparations are already underway to assess the feasibility of the project which is scheduled to be built by 2051.
"There is a serious consideration of having a network between the two major commercial cities keeping in mind the future demand for connectivity between the two states. The feasibility study will assess all aspects including soil testing, property and land acquisition requirements and eventually a Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be prepared," an official said.
According to HSR master plan in NRP, Hyderabad is also expected to have a bullet train connectivity to Bengaluru by 2041 while a network between Chennai to Bengaluru via Mysuru is also being planned for 2051.
Currently, the Centre is undertaking the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail with technical collaboration and financial assistance from the government of Japan.
The other seven rail networks include Delhi-Varanasi, Delhi-Ahmedabad, Delhi-Amritsar, Mumbai-Nagpur, Chennai-Mysuru and Varanasi-Howrah.
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