In a step towards reducing travelling time between cities, the detailed project report (DPR) of the Mumbai-Nagpur high speed rail corridor project has been submitted by NHSRCL to the Union Railway Ministry.
According to the DPR, the proposed 741-km-long Nagpur-Mumbai high-speed rail corridor is estimated to cost Rs 1.7 lakh crore and will run parallel to the Samruddhi Highway.
Currently, it takes about 12 to 14 hours to travel between the two cities in the regular train service. The proposed bullet train in the route is expected to reduce the travel time to three-and-half hours.
The Railway Board will carefully review this DPR before sending this suggestion to the Centre.
Since the rail route will run parallel to the Samriddhi Highway, it only requires the acquisition of 1,250 hectare of land.
The proposed bullet train corridor will have total 15 stations along the route.
The proposed stations are Nagpur via Wardha, Khapri Depot, Pulgaon, Malegaon Jahangir, Jalna, Karanja Lad, Mehkar, Shirdi, Nashik, Sambhajinagar, Igatpuri and Shahapur.
The project is expected to benefit 10 cities in Maharashtra including Thane, Shahpur, Shirdi, Ghoti, Karanja Lad, Nashik, Aurangabad, Jalna, Mehkar, Malegaon, Pulgaon, Wardha, Khapri, and Ajni.
Though the fare structure has not been determined, it is expected to be 1.5 times more than the current first-class air-conditioned fare on regular train service.