GUWAHATI: A new draft National Rail Plan (NRP) has proposed to connect all the cities across India by 2051 which also includes Guwahati.
In the coming years, travelling 300 km/hr wouldn't be a surprising fact.
The aim is to meet the growing passenger demand and to optimise the high-speed rail connectivity between major cities / commercial / economic centres.
The corridors are more or less the same as proposed as part of the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP). In addition, certain extensions/ new corridors have been proposed for enhancing High Speed Rail (HSR) outreach and providing connectivity to other towns:
1. Delhi- Chandigarh- Ludhiana - Jalandhar- Amritsar HSR Corridor is recommended to be extended to Jammu via Pathankot for enhancing regional connectivity and for giving an economic boost to the Jammu and Pathankot Region. It will cater to the religious tourism potential of the Vaishno Devi Shrine and other places.
2. Delhi- Agra- Kanpur- Lucknow- Varanasi- HSR corridor is recommended to route via Ayodhya due to Religious Tourism Potential.
3. Delhi- Agra- Kanpur- Lucknow- Varanasi- HSR corridor is also recommended to be extended to connect Patna and Kolkata.
4. Additional HSR Line from Patna to Guwahati via Katihar and New Jalpaiguri thereby connecting Guwahati with Delhi Varanasi Kolkata HSR Corridor.
5. Additional HSR Line between Hyderabad and Bengaluru by extending Mumbai Hyderabad HSR Line. This shall connect Mumbai with Chennai and also will bring North India from Jammu – Amritsar – Delhi – Jaipur – Ahmedabad – Mumbai – Hyderabad – Bengaluru – Chennai on HSR corridor and all the major towns of North, West and South India shall be connected with 1 HSR Corridor.
6. Additional HSR line is proposed between Nagpur and Varanasi by extending the Mumbai – Nashik – Nagpur HSR Corridor. This shall connect Mumbai with Varanasi which will further connect with Delhi – Varanasi – Patna – Guwahati HSR corridor.
The proposed HSR master plan shall bring all major cities to the HSR network, stated the NRP report.
"This plan would take time to get implemented in Guwahati since the concept of running a bullet train is different. Presently we have diesel engine tracks and we have to get them electrified first. We are currently trying to run an electric train from Guwahati up to Rangia by march next year," Nripen Bhattacharya, PRO of NF Railways told G Plus.
