New Delhi: Thanks to the ambitious project of the Indian railways, by 2031 you will be able to reach the holy city of Varanasi to offer prayers at the Kashi Vishwanath temple from New Delhi in just two and half hours.
Currently, the average travel time is 12 hours to travel the distance of around 720 km. And for this speedy bullet train experience, one will need to spend just Rs 3,240.
Reportedly, the Delhi-Varanasi high-speed corridor is a priority project for Narendra Modi-led government. Varanasi is the Lok Sabha constituency of the Prime Minister.
Not only Varanasi, but this bullet train will also take you to Lucknow, the capital city of the country’s most populous state UP in just one hour and 38 minutes at the cost of Rs 1,980.
On Thursday, as reported by Times of India, Spanish firm M/s INECO-TYPSA-ICT which was doing the feasibility study of Delhi-Kolkata high-speed corridor (1474.5 km), under which Delhi-Lucknow-Varanasi stretch comes, has submitted the draft final report to the high-speed rail corporation and railway board.
The railway board discussed the report on the same day and decided to incorporate the suggested changes.
On Delhi-Varanasi route there would be five train stoppages namely Greater Noida, Aligarh, Lucknow, Sultanpur and Jaunpur.
If the Indian railways start construction work on Delhi-Kolkata corridor in 2021, Delhi-Varanasi stretch will be functional by 2031 and Delhi-Lucknow by 2029.
Along with Delhi-Kolkata high-speed corridor, there are two more corridors planned i.e. Mumbai-Ahmedabad and Mumbai-Nagpur.
The construction on Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor will start in September this year while the Mumbai-Nagpur stretch is on the advanced stage of getting approvals.