Budget 2026-27: Railways ready with detailed project reports on new bullet corridors

The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), implementing the country’s first Mumbai- Ahmedabad bullet train, has already submitted detailed project reports (DPRs) of six of the seven high-speed rail corridors to the Ministry of Railways.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced seven high-speed rail corridors to connect major cities. The proposed routes are Mumbai–Pune, Pune–Hyderabad, Hyderabad–Bengaluru, Hyderabad–Chennai, Chennai–Bengaluru, Delhi–Varanasi, and Varanasi–Siliguri. These corridors will reduce travel time, cut pollution, and support regional development.

The NHSRCL has already submitted DPRs for all routes but Varanasi–Siliguri to the railway ministry. The DPRs contain all elements related to the projects, such as objectives, scope, methodology, budget, and risk assessment.

The NHSRCL has been working on these DPRs for the last 2-4 years. However, the decision to sanction any HSR corridor/project depends on many factors such as the outcome of DPR, techno-economic feasibility, availability of resources and financing options.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) monthly project monitoring flash report for November 2025 said the corridor has crossed 56% physical progress. According to the report, over Rs 85,338 crore has been spent so far on the bullet train project, which is estimated to cost about Rs 1.08 lakh crore on completion.

However, the cost of the project has escalated to Rs 1.98 lakh crore due to land acquisition delays, clearances and rolling stock.  

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had earlier announced that India’s first bullet train will begin its inaugural 100-km run between Surat and Vapi in August 2027. The section is part of the larger 508-km Mumbai–Ahmedabad high-speed corridor. The project is expected to be fully operational by 2029.

Vaishnaw said the Mumbai–Ahmedabad travel time would drop to 1 hour 58 minutes once the corridor is ready and trains on the 508-km corridor will operate at speeds of up to 320 kmph.