Rlys’ Amritsar-Delhi high-speed corridor plan has Ludhiana en route

Ludhiana: There is a piece of good news for the train travellers here, who have been dreaming of travelling in bullet trains, as the Northern Railway Board working on a plan to develop a Amritsar-Chandigarh-Ludhiana-New Delhi route on the lines of high-speed corridor being built between Mumbai and Ahmadabad to run bullet trains.

According to sources, as part of its plan to develop six more corridors across the country on the lines of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed corridor, the railways is planning the Amritsar-Delhi route via Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Jalandhar. The length of this route will be 459km.

Railway Board chairman V K Yadav has also confirmed that the six routes proposed to be developed on the lines of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor have been identified across the country.

With a view to prepare a roadmap for the ambitious plan, the Northern Railway Board has directed the Ferozpur division officials to check the feasibility of the high-speed corridor. Although no dates have been finalised as yet to start the feasibility survey, the railway sources said the detailed report on the proposed route could be submitted by the year-end.

Giving more information on this, preferring anonymity, a senior official of the Northern Railway Board said, "The board has finalised the Amritsar-Ludhiana-Chandigarh-New Delhi route under their proposal to develop a high-speed corridor. But, it’s too early to speak about when it will take its final shape, as the railways has to go through thousands of formalities at different levels before finalising the project and executing the same."

A major problem in starting high-speed trains is that an entirely new track has to be laid down, which can sustain the speed of over 300km per hour, and the existing tracks are not suitable for that. For developing such routes, the railways would have to procure private land, which is a lengthy process, the official told TOI.

The city’s frequent travellers, especially the businessmen, are more than happy to know that the railways’ high-speed corridor will pass through Ludhiana.

According to Abhinav Shegal, a cycle parts manufacturer, said, “It’s the need of the hour to run high-speed trains in India, as the pace of life has increased and the people need to do more in less time. We are thankful to the Indian Railways for visualising the route via Ludhiana, but we request that this project be completed in a time-bound manner and soon.”

Another local businessman felt that the railways should also run high-speed freight trains to and from Ludhiana to facilitate faster movement of goods between the city and other parts of the country.


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