The second bullet train after the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor will run from Delhi to Varanasi, a distance of 782 km, and could complete the journey in just two hours and 40 minutes.
The project connecting the capital to the pilgrimage city , which is also PM Modi's Lok Sabha constituency , while passing through Lucknow has been fast-tracked ahead of the UP polls next year.
Though it will be a while before the service rolls out, the Delhi-Varanasi stretch -part of the Delhi-Kolkata corridor -has been accorded topmost priority for the railways after the national transporter accelerated the Mumbai-Ahmedabad stretch. Fast-tracking of the stretch seems to be part of the Modi regime's strategy to project a pro-development image ahead of UP polls.
The Delhi-Varanasi stretch will pass through Aligarh, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow and Sultanpur.
An official said the interim report by a Spanish firm, which is conducting a feasibility study of the high-speed rail corridor. says the travel time between Delhi and Lucknow (506 km) is likely to be 1 hour 45 minutes while travel between Delhi to Kolkata (1,513 km) will take 4 hours 56 minutes.The preliminary cost, without rolling stock, being worked out is estimated to be about Rs.43,000 crore for the Delhi-Varanasi stretch and around Rs.84,000 crore for the entire Delhi-Kolkata corridor. However, an official said the final cost will be worked out only after field study of the finally chosen alignment.
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