Preparation of DPR Begins for 865-Km Long Delhi-Varanasi High-Speed Rail Corridor

In 2019, the country’s first semi-high-speed Vande Bharat Express train was flagged off between New Delhi and Varanasi.Work has commenced on detailed project report (DPR) for the proposed Delhi-Varanasi high-speed rail (HSR) corridor following instructions of the Central government.

The 865-km long Delhi-Varanasi high-speed rail corridor is one of the eight HSR passageways that has been proposed. The project has been proposed to optimise high-speed rail connectivity between major cities and strengthen the industrial sector.

Work has already begun on 508-km long Ahmedabad-Mumbai corridor that will see bullet trains running at a speed of 320 km per hour.

Once the Delhi-Varanasi corridor project is completed it will reduce travel time between the two cities to around four-and-a-half hours.

In 2019, the country’s first semi-high-speed Vande Bharat Express train was flagged off between New Delhi and Varanasi.

The National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL) has been entrusted by the Ministry of Railways to prepare DPRs for seven new high-speed rail corridors, namely Delhi-Varanasi, Varanasi-Howrah, Mumbai-Nagpur, Delhi-Ahmedabad, Chennai-Mysore, Delhi-Amritsar, and Mumbai-Hyderabad.

In early July 2020, NHSRCL had invited four bids related to data collection, preliminary designs, and survey work for preparation of the DPR of the Delhi-Varanasi HSR corridor.

The collection of relevant data for preparation of interim DPR is under process. The location of stations will be proposed after survey reports and consultation with the government.

Moreover, the interim work on other corridors is also progressing. The Delhi-Varanasi corridor may follow Noida-Agra-Kanpur-Lucknow route.

The tender floated by NHSRCL for the Delhi-Varanasi HSR corridor includes carrying out an environmental impact assessment study, preparation of an environment impact assessment report and environment management plan, data collection & associated survey work, final alignment design, including an aerial LIDAR survey.

Source: Construction week online