Kazipet To Chennai In 3 Hours: High-Speed Train To Be Introduced With German Support

11 Oct, 2017 12:12 IST

At present, the travel time between Chennai and Kazipet, a distance of around 643kms, is around 11 hours at an average speed of 57kmph.

Hyderabad: After laying foundation for the works on the country's first bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai recently, the Indian Railways has signed a joint declaration of intent with German Railways to carry out feasibility study on existing Chennai-Kazipet corridor for increasing the speed trains to 200kmph.

At present, the travel time between Chennai and Kazipet in Telengana, a distance of around 643kms, is around 11 hours. If the semi-high speed corridor is developed, the distance will be covered in 3 hours 15 minutes.

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The Project is envisaged to consist of three phases to be carried out over a 22-month period with the objectives to provide:

Phase 1: Definition of three demand-based upgrade scenarios for the corridor

Phase 2: Selection of the preferred upgrade scenario for SHS on the corridor, based on analysis of respective operations and economic-financial impact

Phase 3: For preferred scenario, Reference design and technical Tender document

The cost of the feasibility study will be shared in 50:50 ratio by the Ministry of Railways and the German government.

Salient features of Chennai-Kazipet corridor:

Route: Chennai-Gudur Jn-Nellore-Tenali Jn-Vijayawada Jn-Warangal-Kazipet Jn Total length of the corridor – 643 km (135km in Southern Railway and 508km in South Central Railway) and the entire corridor is electrified.

Divisions Involved – Chennai (135km), Vijayawada (311km) and Secunderabad (197km).The maximum sectional speed on the corridor is 110kmph in Southern Railway and 120kmph for South Central Railway.There are 216 (Southern Railway-68 and South Central Railway-148) level crossings on the corridor and all are manned.There are 1979 (Southern Railway-514 and South Central Railway-1465) number of bridges on this corridor.There is only one direct train from Kazipet to Chennai - Train No. 12760/Charminar SF Express taking 11 hours 20 minutes with 13 stoppages at an average speed of 57kmph.Majority of the trains are from Warangal to Chennai (638km) and the fastest train is Train no. 12433/12434 Rajdhani Express taking 8 hours 29 minutes with average speed of 75.3kmph with one stoppage at Vijayawada.Details of coaching trains on the route: Gareeb Rath-1, Janshatabdi-1, Superfast-40, MailExpress-21 and Holiday Special-8, Total-71.Total number of enroute stations – 108 (Southern Railway-28 and South Central Railway-80).Total number of stations where platform is on the mainline – 29 (Southern Railway-23 and South Central Railway-06).Southern Railway – Automatic/Absolute signalling, South Central Railway – Mainly absolute and MACLS.