Indian Railways eye 2022 launch for hi-speed train network connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata

New Delhi: The Indian Railways’ ambitious project of reducing travel time by interconnecting four major metros - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata - with a high-speed network of trains running at 160 kilometre per hour is looking at an August 2022 launch, sources said. The current average speed of trains on this network is around 88-90 kmph. [caption id=“attachment_4235609” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Christened Golden Quadrilateral, the project envisages the creation of a 10,000-kilometre network of semi-high speed routes connecting the four major cities is likely to be launched on 15 August 2022 to coincide with 75 years of India’s Independence. In a meeting on 28 November, the railway board started the process of drawing up a blueprint to interconnect the four metros, Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Howrah, Delhi-Chennai, Chennai-Howrah, Chennai-Mumbai, and Howrah -Mumbai. The project has been appraised by NITI Aayog and is awaiting Cabinet sanction which is under process. “We are still finalising the blueprint and efforts are on to officially launch the project by August 2022 to coincide with the celebrations around India’s 75th year of Independence. However, everything depends on how we manage to meet every deadline set for the project”, a railway official said. While the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes were included in Budget 2017-2018 at a cost of Rs 11,189 crore and Rs 6,975 crore respectively, the estimates for the other four routes are under process for inclusion in the works programme 2018-2019. The board is likely to finalise a detailed cost estimate for the remaining routes by 31 December this year, officials said. Sources in the ministry said that an extra-budgetary allocation of around Rs 36,000 crore will be required for the project.