Railway to form joint working group with Japan for speed train

NEW DELHI: Trains between Delhi and Mumbai may run at a speed of 200 km per hour if efforts of railways bear fruit for which it is taking the help of Japan.

A Japanese delegation has met Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi recently and made a presentation about the operation of high speed train in the country.

Japan's high speed trains Shinkansen operate at a speed of up to 300 km per hour and are known for their punctuality, comfort, safety and efficiency.

"I am quite impressed by the safety record of high-speed trains in Japan as there has been no accident till date," Trivedi said adding "we are forming a joint working group with Japan to carry forward the high-speed train proposal."

While railways have identified six routes for conducting study for running train at 300 km per hour speed on elevated track, it has selected Delhi-Mumbai route to operate train at 200 km on the existing track.

Japan has conducted a study to run high-speed train in Delhi-Mumbai route. "They have finalised the report and it will be submitted to us shortly," a senior Railway Ministry official involved with the project said.

Railways have also selected a Japanese consortium to undertake feasibility study for running the train at 300 km per hour speed on the 869 km long Chennai-Bangalore-Thiruvanthapuram route.

"The Japan Railway Technical Service along with Oriental Consultants have been awarded the contract to conduct the study," said a senior Railway Ministry official.

Earlier, Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro) and along with Parsons Brinkhoff India has bagged the contract to conduct the study on the proposed 664 km long Hyderabad-Vijaywada-Chennai route for running the high speed train.