JOIN USFresh hopes for Chennai, B'luru high speed rail project
The long-pending proposal on high speed rail between Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru is likely to receive a much-needed boost as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to hold talks with Chinese president Xi Jinping on the project during his ongoing visit to the land of dragons.
The proposed project is faced with several hurdles including the high gradient and curves in Bengaluru-Mysuru stretch. Because of which, the proposed high speed of 200 kmph may not be achieved on the existing tracks. And if at all, the high speed rail connectivity is to be made a reality, new infrastructure has to be created.
However, till date, there has been no official word on shelving the project and with the high speed connectivity between Chennai-Bengaluru featuring on Modi’s agenda, commuters between the cities are hoping that the project will be steered on tracks.
In November 2014, the Southern Railways had started groundwork for introducing semi high-speed trains that can travel up to 160 kmph on the Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru route and for the same preliminary trials were also conducted between Chennai and Jolarpet to study the feasibility of the project.
A 16-member delegation from China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group, which runs high-speed trains in China, had met senior railway officials to understand the route on Bengaluru-Mysuru line. The company had shown keen interest in bidding for the project on Chennai-Mysore route A presentation was also made by the officials of the Southern Railways after which the Chinese delegates gave inputs on what needs to be done to make the route fit for running trains at 160 kmph.
The Chinese delegation, which conducted the track inspection in November last year, noticed as many as 145 curves along the proposed Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru route. Of which 135 are located between Bengaluru and Mysuru. The team is expected to submit a detailed feasibility report to the competent authority on the same.
In the past, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) team had conducted a study on the said stretch.
The team stated that achieving a speed of even 140 kmph between Mysuru-Bengaluru was not possible with the existing tracks and high gradient and if at all such high speed has to be achieved, a minimum investment of about Rs 1,500 crore is to be made to make necessary changes to the existing infrastructure and create new, as well.