Delhi-Chandigarh high-speed rail on track

The Indian Railways has decided to run Delhi-Chandigarh high-speed rail services at a speed of 220 km per hour and French Railways has recently extended helping hand to build the mega project. This involves upgrading the track between Delhi and Chandigarh to facilitate running of trains at a targeted speed and the French National Railways (or SNCF), which has carried out a technical study to upgrade the speed of passenger trains on the 245-km-long existing rail corridor between Delhi and Chandigarh, presented its report recently. According to the report, SNCF has suggested higher speed ranging between 160 km and 220 km per hour for Shatabdi trains in the Delhi-Chandigarh corridor to reduce travel time between the two cities. On this score, the team has offered three options, first is to upgrade the track for running trains at 160 km per hour speed at an estimated cost of Rs. 17-cr per km. The second option is to run trains at 180 km per hour and the third is for a speed of 220 km per hour. While it would cost railways about Rs. 27-cr per km for upgrading the track for 180 km speed, the cost will go up to Rs. 46-cr per km for strengthening the track for 220 km per hour speed, said sources.