The Railway ministry’s proposal to construct high speed train corridors in southern India on partnership basis, connecting Bangalore with other prominent cities has encountered problem as the Karnataka government is not convinced about the specific proposals mooted by the ministry.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad had, in his budget last year, proposed setting up of high speed rail corridors in several parts of the country, connecting important cities. In pursuance of the rail budget proposal, railway ministry officials had recently held detailed consultations with Karnataka government officials to evolve specific proposals.
The ministry is understood to have favoured construction of two high speed corridors, one linking Bangalore with Chennai via Coimbatore and the other connecting Bangalore with Kochi. However, the Karnataka government made it known to the ministry, its lack of interest in participating in the two project proposals. Instead, the state favoured an alternative Bangalore-Davangere-Hubli-Dharwad-Belgaum-Mumbai corridor. But it appeared, the ministry is not keen about the state’s proposal.
As per the ministry proposal, dedicated railway corridors are to be developed on a 50:50 cost sharing basis between state governments and the Centre by setting up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the purpose. The state government has conveyed that its participation in any project would be based on its assessment about the project’s benefit to the state not other states since it would be required to contribute its share from the tax payers’ money.
The ministry officials who had taken part in the consultations with state government officials are understood to have conveyed that Karnataka’s views would be conveyed to the political leadership who would be finally taking a decision on it.
It is believed, however, that the minister of state for railways R Velu is rather keen on pursuing the Bangalore-Chennai corridor proposal and not impressed with the state government’s Bangalore-Mumbai corridor proposal. The state government had earlier contributed to the SPV set-up for expeditious gauge conversion of the Hassan-Mangalore rail route.  
In the meanwhile, the Centre is likely to sign a MoU with French Company SNCF to conduct feasibility study on developing high speed train corridors in the country. As per plans, the ministry wants to develop train corridors that can support trains that run at a speed of 300 km per hour.