| Delhi–Kolkata high-speed rail corridor | |
| Type: | High-speed rail |
| Status: | Approved |
| Locale: | Delhi Uttar Pradesh Bihar Jharkhand West Bengal |
| Stations: | TBA |
| Operator: | Indian Railways |
| Linelength: | 1669km (1,037miles) |
| Gauge: | standard gauge |
| Electrification: | 25 kV AC overhead lines |
| Speed: | 320km/h |
The Delhi–Kolkata high-speed rail corridor[1] is one of the route of the proposed high-speed rail in India. The line is part of the Diamond Quadrilateral Program, which seeks to unite the cities of New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai via high speed rail. This travels along the Howrah-Delhi main line from Tundla to Howrah. The train expects to cut the journey time for the 1500km (900miles) between the national capital of India, New Delhi, and the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, the city of Kolkata, to just 5 hours 30 minutes.
According to the British company Mott McDonald, which undertook a pre-feasibility study of the project, the estimated cost for construction will be around . The speed expected is 200km/h320km/h. A second phase of the project has been already taken up to extend the corridor to the Howrah Terminus (Howrah Railway Station) in the metropolitan city of Kolkata.[2] [3]
Currently, the international consortium INECO-TYPSA-ICT is carrying out the feasibility study.[4]
Delhi-Varanasi Corridor (Phase I)
| Section | Description | Designed speed (km/h) | Length (km) | Construction start date | Open date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delhi–Kolkata high-speed corridor | HSR Corridors of Northern and Eastern India, consisting of the Delhi-Varanasi section & Varanasi-Kolkata. | 350 | 1669 | - | - | |
| Delhi–Varanasi section | 350 | 958 | ||||
| Varanasi–Kolkata section | 350 | 711 |