New Delhi: Union Railway Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the proposed high-speed railway corridor between Mumbai and Pune, could reduce the travel
time between the 2 cities to just 48 minutes. His statement comes after the Union Budget was presented in Parliament on Sunday, and in which the government has talked about building a number of high-speed railway corridors in the country.
One must note that the current travel time between Mumbai and Pune is nearly 3 to 4 hours, by a normal train. The Union Minister said that the new infrastructure would accommodate speeds of up to 350 km/hr. The emphasis of this year’s budget is increasing capital investment and building a number of new high-speed railway corridors between major urban centres of the country.
Mumbai-Pune line similar to other bullet train projects in country
According to Vaishnaw, the Mumbai-Pune high-speed railway corridor would be similar in concept to the other bullet train corridors in the country. So far it is not finalised how exactly will the projects come up or when will they begin and start operations, this route has been identified as a key one for development of high-speed railway corridor.
The reason that the government has chosen the Mumbai-Pune route, for development of this high-speed train, is that it is one of India’s busiest short-distance intercity routes. This route is used by daily commuters, business travellers, students and leisure travellers. This route also serves as a corridor to the Western Ghats region and to hill destinations. Mumbai is also a major aviation hub and the volume of people coming to Mumbai and then travelling to Pune is automatically higher, due to the high footfall at the airports in the city.
If the travel time between the 2 cities is reduced, it would automatically lead to better utilisation of the time saved by passengers. People might just plan same day return trips, thus helping them save time. This would also increase business between the 2 cities, as travel will become easier. The government has however so far not shared details about the frequency of trains or operational details of the new high-speed rail networks.
Provisions in Budget for Railway infrastructure development
The Budget 2026, provides for a push for new Railway infrastructure. This Mumbai-Pune high speed railway network is also a move in this direction. The government has announced a budgetary support of Rs 2.78 lakh crore for the Railways, with total capital expenditure pegged at Rs 2.93 lakh crore.
The Budget also proposed 7 high-speed railway corridors connecting major cities and a new East-West corridor, which would connect Dankuni in West Bengal to Surat in Gujarat.
According to the Railway Minister, the Budget allocation for railways this year, is meant to both complete pending railway projects and take up new ones. Maharashtra, where the Mumbai-Pune railway corridor would be located has been granted Rs 24,000 crore under the capital expenditure outlay.
