3 min readNew DelhiFeb 10, 2026 04:37 AM IST
In a push to advance India’s high-speed railway programme, the Railway Board has directed the National High Speed Rail Corp Ltd (NHSRCL) to prepare the detailed project reports (DPRs) for seven proposed high-speed rail corridors announced in the Union Budget 2026-27, apart from maintaining quality standards across corridors and ensuring the availability of a trained workforce for these projects. In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced seven new high-speed rail corridors, namely, Mumbai-Pune, Pune-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Hyderabad-Chennai, Chennai-Bengaluru, Delhi-Varanasi and Varanasi-Siliguri.
NHSRCL is a special purpose vehicle incorporated in 2016 to finance, construct, maintain, and manage India’s high-speed rail corridor.
India is currently developing its first high-speed rail corridor, the Bullet train project, between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
Officials said that at a high-level meeting, the Railway Board asked NHSRCL to take immediate steps to initiate implementation of the projects. It was also decided that the DPRs for corridors where studies have been completed would be updated with current cost estimates for the assessments of financial viability.
NHSRCL had earlier submitted DPRs for seven corridors namely Delhi-Varanasi, Delhi-Ahmedabad, Mumbai-Nagpur, Mumbai-Hyderabad, Chennai-Mysore, Delhi-Amritsar and Varanasi-Howrah. These are currently being examined. While the seven new corridors announced in the recent Budget are not identical, they are interlinked with the earlier proposals.
Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw earlier said these seven corridors — spanning 4,000 km — will cost Rs 16 lakh crore.
The Board also directed that the standards of high-speed rail systems across India should be maintained. It has directed that there should be a dedicated field-based core team for each project, including initiation of pre-construction activities, and the preparation of contract documentation, among others.
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“In the meeting, it was highlighted that there should be a robust manpower of trained technical people for the high-speed rail projects. Along with this, the progress on the identified action points will be reviewed at the highest level. This is necessary for the next phase of the Bullet train project,” said a senior railway official.
The first stretch of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor, between Surat and Billimora, is scheduled to become operational by August 15, 2027. This will be followed by Vapi-Surat, Vapi-Ahmedabad, and Thane-Ahmedabad sections, respectively. The entire corridor will be operational by 2029.
The cost of the first Bullet train project has almost doubled to Rs 1.98 lakh crore from an estimated cost of Rs 1.08 lakh crore.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
