Railways to run trains at 200 km/h on Delhi-Chandigarh route

Railways will go ahead with the proposal for running trains at a speed of 200 kms an hour on the Delhi-Chandigarh route with French technical help to reduce the travelling time to about two hours.

SNCF — the French railways — will submit the execution strategy and implementation model with detailed cost of the semi-high speed project involving upgradation of the 245 km route.

Currently, Shatabdi Express covers the 245 km distance in about three hours 30 minutes travelling at a maximum speed of 110 kmph.

It was decided at a high-level delegation meeting of SNCF and Indian Railways to opt for speed of 200 kmh and French railways was asked to prepare the draft document for it, said a senior Railway Ministry official involved with the semi-high speed project.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday met a high-level French delegation and discussed the possibility of running semi-high speed trains on the Delhi-Chandigarh sector.

It was agreed to explore the upgradation of the existing track to enable 200 kmh speed run on Chandigarh route with French help, said the official.

The French team will submit the final report with details of cost analysis by October.

According to a rough estimate, it is likely to cost about Rs 46 lakh per kilometre for running trains at 200 kmh, which includes rolling stock, and signal and track upgradation on the Chandigarh corridor.