India’s dream to put the fastest trains on its tracks got a boost on Friday following an action plan agreed upon between the Indian Railways and China National Railway during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ongoing China visit. While the India-China agreement to enhance rail cooperation will help India to raise train speeds up to 160-kmph on nine sectors at the earliest, the Dragon agreed to conduct a feasibility study for running trains at 300 kmph on Delhi-Nagpur route. India will also seek Chinese expertise to modernise some of its railways stations.
Modi and his Chinese counterpart li Keqiang chalked out an action plan for progress on various projects, including for raising train speeds to up to 160 kmph on existing routes including Delhi-Agra and Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysore. last year, Modi had taken up his pet project for its first 534-km bullet train corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad with his Japanese counterpart during the former’s visit to Tokyo. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is currently conducting a feasibility study for this Rs63,180-crore project. The bullet train project has been in news for over a decade in the country but nothing concrete has been materialised during the UPA’s tenure.
“Indian Railways is keen to raise train speeds on the existing lines with an upgrade of the signalling system and strengthening of tracks. As per the agreement between our PM and his Chinese counterpart, China will also be conducting a feasibility study for running trains at 300 kmph between Delhi and Nagpur, part of the proposed Delhi-Chennai Diamond Quadrilateral corridor project. A Chinese team has already made a visit and the preliminary report is expected within six months,” said a senior Railway Ministry official.
The proposed Diamond Quadrilateral project aims to reduce travel time between the metros through a high-speed train network, including between Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Chennai, Chennai-Kolkata, Kolkata-Delhi and Mumbai-Kolkata. The project is likely to cost around Rs2 lakh crore. The official added that training for handling heavy haul operations and assistance in the setting up of a railway university, too, featured in discussion between the two leaders. China has also agreed to impart training to Indian Railway officials on heavy haul operations.
Heavy haul transportation is essential for the Indian Railways’ ambitious Dedicated Freight Corridor project. Apart from train operations, China will also be roped in to share its expertise while setting up a railway university in India. “Railway Staff College at Baroda will be upgraded to a full-fledged Railway University with China’s help,” the official said. According to the action plan, China will also cooperate on the redevelopment of the Bhubaneswar and Baiyappanahalli stations as the Railways has proposals to revamp some selected stations to turn them into world-class stations.