Delhi to Siliguri in 6 hours: Vaishnaw
Unveiling a rail infrastructure blitz in Bengal, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday announced a bullet train project that would connect Delhi with Siliguri, the gateway to the Northeast. Vaishnaw said it would reduce the travel time to just six hours from the present 20 hours. This will be India’s second bullet train project after the 508 km Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor, which is set to be operational next year.
“A bullet train project will come to West Bengal. It will connect Delhi and Siliguri via Lucknow, Varanasi and Patna,” the Union Minister said. Vaishnaw on Saturday said, “In the next five years, 60 next-generation trains will be introduced for Kolkata Metro... This will prove to be very beneficial for Kolkata and its surrounding areas.”
“The previous Government had blocked all forms of development. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has plans for Bengal, and that is evident from the Rs 14,205 crore allotted for railway projects in the State. Under the UPA Government, Bengal got Rs 4,000 crore,” Vaishnaw claimed.
He also referred to proposed high-speed rail corridors linking Delhi with Varanasi and Varanasi with Siliguri, saying they would significantly reduce travel time.
Referring to the East-West Dedicated Freight Corridor, the Railway Minister said it would connect West Bengal’s Dankuni with Surat in Gujarat and boost industrial and trade movement across several States.
The corridor will benefit States like Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, he said. The minister said 100 per cent railway electrification had been achieved in the State and assured the people of continued investment in new trains and infrastructure.
Vaishnaw added that inputs from legislators had been compiled into a booklet for planning future railway works in the State.
In the evening, while inspecting the Metro project site at Chingrighata, the Union Minister repeated those assurances.
He said the work had remained stuck due to administrative hurdles, but it was completed within five days after the BJP Government in the State granted the clearances.
The minister, who is on his first visit to the State since the change of guard in West Bengal, reviewed the progress of the Metro project and said delays in such infrastructure works had adversely affected commuters.
“Metro is extremely important for the people of Kolkata. Despite that, the previous TMC Government had kept the Metro work stalled. Development was being held back,” Vaishnaw said.
