Railway unveils elevated inter-city semi-high-speed trains

Indian Railways is planning to construct intercity elevated semi-high-speed tracks for passenger trains on popular routes such as Delhi-Jaipur, Mumbai-Pune, Bangalore-Chennai, and Delhi-Amritsar via Chandigarh. The project, which is expected to cost around ₹150-160 crore per km, will be funded through direct budgetary support and will be carried out by different zones of Indian Railways. The elevated tracks will be used for inter-city fast train services with a range of 200-300 km and are intended to meet the high demand for premium train services on these routes.

The railway minister has reportedly supported the idea of elevated tracks as a way to increase capacity and run faster trains. This approach is similar to what has been done in other countries such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China, where the passenger network is elevated, and the ground network is used for cargo. The World Bank has been approached for their global experience on this matter as land acquisition is not an easy task.