Hyderabad: After an international airport, Shamshabad is all set to become the bullet train hub of India — positioning Hyderabad as the only city in India connecting four metropolises through high-speed rail corridors.While cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi too have similar rail connectivity, it is limited to one or two destinations at best.South Central Railway (SCR) officials said the three-way terminal at Shamshabad — announced in the Union budge t— will allow for seamless connectivity with Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune and even Mumbai, offering passengers an equally fast yet reasonably priced alternative to air travel between these cities.The project is likely to take off by 2027-28.Once operational, a high-speed train ride from Shamshabad to Bengaluru, for instance, is expected to take not more than two hours—just about 30 minutes more than the flying time between Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and Kempegowda International Airport. This high-speed corridor will pass through Mahabubnagar, Kurnool and Anantapur.The Hyderabad–Chennai connection will pass through Nalgonda, Amaravati and Nellore, and is expected to cover the distance in 2.5 hours, while the Hyderabad–Pune corridor will transit Lingampally, Wadi and Solapur, taking 1.5 hours to reach Pune. The Pune–Mumbai high-speed line can then ferry passengers onwards—covering the 190 km stretch in less than one hour.“The corridors will firmly position Hyderabad as a major bullet train hub. The Hyderabad–Bengaluru–Chennai network will form a high-speed triangle, connecting major economic and IT hubs, that will boost transportation, tourism, education and healthcare,” said Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday.Designed to operate at speeds of 350 kmph, the trains will run entirely on elevated tracks. “Elevated corridors will minimise land acquisition issues and ensure villages are not divided by railway lines, allowing free movement on both sides,” the minister added.Railway officials said the learnings from setting up India’s first bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad will help them execute this high-speed rail technology project more efficiently.Funding a major challengeDespite Hyderabad securing the highest number of high-speed rail corridors, funding is likely to be a major challenge. And that is because the proposed cost-sharing structure for the project will need the Telangana govt to pay a significant portion of the expense.In the case of Mumbai–Ahmedabad project, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is financing 81% of the project cost (around Rs 88,000 crore), while the remaining 19% (about Rs 20,000 crore) is being met through equity contributions from the ministry of railways (50%) and the Maharashtra and Gujarat govts (25% each).If the same equity model is followed, the Telangana govt will have to similarly contribute several thousand crores. This concern is heightened by the fact that the state is yet to clear its pending share of about Rs 380 crore for the MMTS project.When TOI asked Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, general manager, SCR about it, he said that the cost-sharing pattern is not yet finalised. “Our focus is currently on finalising the DPRs, alignments and designs,” he said.However, senior SCR officials indicated that there is also a possibility of the three corridors being implemented under a public-private partnership (PPP) model.
