Seven High-Speed Rail Corridors Project and ₹16 Lakh Crore Investment

Key facts

• The Government of India announced seven new high-speed rail corridors: Mumbai-Pune, Pune-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Hyderabad-Chennai, Chennai-Bengaluru, Delhi-Varanasi, and Varanasi-Siliguri.
• The new corridors will span approximately 4,000 km and involve an estimated investment of ₹16 lakh crore.
• The Ministry of Railways (MoR) will utilise indigenous technologies for the development of track works, slabs, viaducts, signalling systems, and overhead electricals.
• Future Bullet trains for these corridors will be manufactured in India by Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML).
• The MoR is currently manufacturing 200 Vande Bharat Sleeper trains and plans to implement 52 commodity-wise reforms in the freight sector this year.
• An East-West dedicated freight corridor is being planned to connect industrial hubs in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha to ports on the East and West coasts.
• The propulsion systems for these trains, including converters, inverters, and motors, are already being manufactured in India and exported to Europe and the United States.