Bengaluru: Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on Sunday that a new bullet train corridor connecting Bengaluru and Pune via Hubballi will be included in the ambitious project’s next phase spanning 3,000 km. …

Bengaluru: Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on Sunday that a new bullet train corridor connecting Bengaluru and Pune via Hubballi will be included in the ambitious project’s next phase spanning 3,000 km. In the first large-scale phase of the high-speed rail project, the Centre had announced several corridors spanning about 4,000 km, including Bengaluru-Chennai and Bengaluru-Hyderabad. According to Vaishnaw, the corridor will reduce the Bengaluru-Chennai travel time to 73 minutes and the Bengaluru-Hyderabad journey to 2 hours and 10 minutes. However, neither project elicited much enthusiasm in Karnataka because they would cover only some parts of Karnataka. Demands had been growing, including from elected representatives, to announce a bullet train corridor connecting Bengaluru to Pune and Mumbai via Hubballi, covering Karnataka’s hinterland. Bengaluru-Chennai bullet train project takes baby steps, alignment changes aheadResponding to the demand, Vaishnaw stated that the Bengaluru-Hubballi-Pune corridor would certainly be included in the project’s next phase spanning about 3,000 km. Similarly, he announced that another Vande Bharat Sleeper train would be introduced linking Bengaluru and Mumbai via Hubballi and other parts of Karnataka. The railway minister also stated that a Vande Bharat seater train would be introduced “very soon” connecting Bengaluru and Mangaluru. “All testing and commissioning have been completed on this corridor,” he added. Coinciding with Kannada Rajyotsava, Vaishnaw flagged off India’s third and South India’s first Vande Bharat Sleeper train connecting Bengaluru and Mumbai via Kalaburagi. Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw flags off South India’s first Vande Bharat Sleeper train at SMVT Bengaluru railway stationThe train, which would take about 16 hours each way, starts from CSMT Mumbai on November 2 and from SMVT Bengaluru on November 3.

Source: Deccan Herald