Modi approves northern bullet train corridor from Delhi to Guwahati via Siliguri, says Vaishnaw

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a northern corridor for India's bullet train network, running from Delhi through Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to Guwahati by way of Siliguri in north Bengal, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday.

Vaishnaw made the announcement in Varanasi, where he flagged off the new Vande Bharat sleeper service to New Delhi. He said the line would start in Delhi and connect Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow and Ayodhya, then continue through Varanasi and Patna "all the way to Guwahati", according to an IANS report. PTI's list of places on the route also included Prayagraj and Siliguri.

Journey times

The minister gave a set of expected travel times, reported by PTI, ANI and IANS:

Delhi to Agra: 59 minutes

Delhi to Kanpur: 1 hour 45 minutes

Delhi to Lucknow: 2 hours 12 minutes

Lucknow to Varanasi: 1 hour 21 minutes

Delhi to Varanasi: about 3 hours 33 minutes (PTI reported 3 hours 35 minutes)

Varanasi to Patna: 1 hour

Varanasi to Prayagraj: 33 minutes

Vaishnaw said fares would be "very economical and much less than flight tickets", and that the project would be built entirely under Make in India, according to the agency reports. He gave no fare figures. He said critics would try to spread the idea that the bullet train was "only for the rich", IANS reported, and said the corridor "will change the lives of many", according to PTI.

The announcement came at the launch of India's second Vande Bharat sleeper train, which runs overnight between Varanasi and New Delhi via Prayagraj and Kanpur in about nine hours. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath joined Vaishnaw at the flag-off. The first sleeper version of the Vande Bharat has run between Howrah and Guwahati since January, also by way of north Bengal.

What was not announced

None of the reports gave the corridor's length, its cost, its station list, its design speed or a construction timetable, and the railway ministry had not published an official note on the approval by late Saturday. It is also not clear whether the approval went through the Union Cabinet; the minister described it as the Prime Minister's approval. The Declaration could not find a government release on the decision.

Background

India's only high-speed line under construction is the 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor, built with Japanese financial and technical support. IANS reported that the first traction substation for that line is nearing completion at Bilimora in Gujarat's Navsari district, one of 14 planned along the route.

Saturday's announcement did not mention Kolkata or a link to Howrah. For Bengal, the route as described would bring high-speed rail to Siliguri, the gateway to the Darjeeling hills, Sikkim and the Northeast, and put north Bengal on a fast line to both Patna and Guwahati.

What happens next

The Railway Ministry is expected to set out the corridor's alignment, cost and phasing in an official notification or detailed project report.