Govt to spend Rs 16 lakh cr to develop 7 high-speed rail corridors

By Arun Kumar Das

New Delhi, Feb 1 (BVI): The government will spend Rs 16 lakh crore to develop seven high-speed rail corridors involving about 4000 kms across the country, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said today after presentation of Budget for 2026-27 in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

“It’s a roadmap for Viksit Bharat,” he said while addressing a press conference.

According to the plan, the proposed high-speed corridors are Mumbai–Pune, Pune–Hyderabad, Hyderabad–Bengaluru, Hyderabad–Chennai, Chennai–Bengaluru, Delhi–Varanasi and Varanasi–Siliguri.

The aim is to reduce the train travel between Bengaluru and Chennai to 1 hour 13 minutes, between Bengaluru and Hyderabad to 2 hours and between Chennai and Hyderabad to 2 hours 55 minutes, he said.

The objective is also to reduce train travel time between Mumbai and Pune to 48 minutes, the minister said.
Asked whether the high-speed corridors will be developed in partnership with any foreign technology, Vaishnaw said it would be indigenised.

Detailed feasibility studies, funding mechanisms including potential public-private partnerships, and project timelines are expected to be worked out shortly, he said.

In the Budget 2026, Railways has got Rs 2,93,030 cr out of which the gross budgetary support (GBS) will be 2,78,030 cr. (BVI)