Pune: Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said commuters would be able to travel between Pune and Mumbai within 48 minutes once the high-speed rail corridor between the two cities was ready.Calling it a Bullet Train project, the minister said, “Both the cities will practically be a single city once these trains start running. The travel distance will reduce drastically. Also, the travel time in Pune-Hyderabad corridor would be just one hour and 55 minutes,” Vaishnaw said during a media interaction over video from Delhi.At present, trains take around three to four hours to travel between Pune and Mumbai. The cities are located around 191km apart.The railway minister did not mention any timeline related to the high-speed rail corrdor project, but said a total sum of Rs23,926 crore was allotted in the Budget for rail projects in Maharashtra. “This is a record amount allotted for Maharashtra. Projects worth Rs1.7 crore are presently under development in the state,” he said, adding that the tracks along the corridor would be designed to make modern trains run at a maximum speed of 350kmph.Vaishnaw said, “Both Pune and Hyderabad are major IT hubs. Both the cities will connect faster through the new corridor.”He said, “The new dedicated freight corridor will also benefit Maharashtra, as it will connect to the Vadhavan port. The corridor will start from Dankuni in Bengal, pass through Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra before entering Surat in Gujarat, and connecting to the western freight corridor. The Vadhavan port, poised to be a major port in the near future, will get connected to different hinterlands thus.” Commuters stressed the railway ministry should announce more details about the high-speed rail corridor project. “We need to know when one can expect the project to be on the ground and start. This project is a game changer but should not be one of those delayed by years. Travelling between Pune and Mumbai and back has become a major problem via any means these days. The railway should immediately share more intricate details about the project,” Prasun Jogi, a regular commuter between the two cities, said, adding that the railway also needed to quickly announce the stops and estimated fares.An official of the Pune rail division said a total of 132 stations in the state had been identified for redevelopment under the Amrit Bharat Scheme. “Of these, 17 are ready,” he said.
