Chennai-Hyderabad bullet train project moves into next phase
The proposed 778-km Hyderabad- Chennai high-speed rail corridor, a project that will reshape inter-city travel, has moved a step closer to reality with the South Central Railway submitting the final alignment to be included in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) to the Tamil Nadu government and seeking approvals to keep the survey work on track.
According to TNIE, I Jayakumar, member secretary of the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA), informed that the DPR for the highspeed rail corridor will be finalised within a month after the state government grants its approval. At Tamil Nadu’s request, the alignment has been revised to include a station at Tirupati, replacing the earlier plan to pass through Gudur, Jayakumar added.
The corridor, which has been designed for speeds that will slash the current 12-hour journey to around 2 hours 20 minutes, will have two stations in Tamil Nadu — Chennai Central and a new station on the Chennai Ring Road near Minjur. Further, the railways has also requested nearly 50 acres around each station for transit-oriented development to create new commercial and mobility hubs.
In a letter to the state transport department earlier this week, the South Central Railway sought early finalisation of the alignment and station locations, in-principle approval for the acquisition of land, and incorporation of the rail corridor into Tamil Nadu’s long-term infrastructure master plan.