Delhi-Lucknow bullet train travel time could come down to around two hours under a proposed high-speed rail corridor. The journey from Delhi to Patna could take about 4.5 hours under the project covering key cities across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday, reported ANI.
Speaking at the inauguration of the newly converted and electrified broad-gauge rail line between Nepalganj Road, Nanpara and Bahraich, Vaishnaw said the proposed corridor would connect Delhi with major cities including Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi and Patna.
The project is expected to significantly reduce travel time between the national capital and several major destinations in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. According to the minister, the proposed high-speed service would cover the Delhi-Agra distance of about 200 km in 58 minutes.
Delhi-Kanpur in under two hours, Delhi-Lucknow in 2 hours 12 minutes
Vaishnaw said the proposed bullet train could cover the 455-km distance between Delhi and Kanpur in 1 hour 50 minutes. The 495-km Delhi-Lucknow journey is expected to take around 2 hours 12 minutes.
The proposed service could cover the 750-km distance between Delhi and Prayagraj in about three hours. The journey from Delhi to Varanasi, around 945 km, is expected to take approximately 3 hours 33 minutes.
The Delhi-Patna journey, covering nearly 1,170 km, could be completed in about 4.5 hours under the proposed project.
“If the project materialises, it will be the next phase bullet train corridor in the country after the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor and the first to connect the National Capital with many cities of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,” Vaishnaw said, reported ANI.
The proposed corridor is also expected to improve connectivity for passengers travelling across the Delhi-UP-Bihar belt. It could support tourism, business and economic activity in cities such as Agra, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Patna.
Mumbai-Ahmedabad remains India’s first high-speed rail project
The proposed corridor would follow the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project, which is being developed as India’s first high-speed rail corridor.
While semi-high-speed services such as Vande Bharat can operate at speeds of up to around 180 kmph on the Indian network, the MAHSR project has a design speed of 350 kmph and an operating speed of 320 kmph.
The Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor is expected to reduce the travel time between the two cities to around 1 hour 58 minutes. The first high-speed rail service in India is expected to begin in August 2027, with the initial section planned between Surat and Vapi.
India to develop one lakh more semiconductor engineers
Separately, Vaishnaw said India plans to develop another one lakh semiconductor engineers under the second phase of the country’s semiconductor programme.
Speaking after the launch of Semicon 2.0, the minister said the programme would go beyond semiconductor manufacturing and focus on areas including chip design, equipment, materials, advanced packaging, research and development and talent development.
“Now we have taken a target of one lakh more engineers to be developed,” Vaishnaw said.
He added that the initiative is important as the global semiconductor industry is expected to face a shortage of around one million workers by 2032. The government is seeking to expand India’s talent base alongside efforts to establish a wider semiconductor ecosystem in the country.