Budget Boosts High-Speed Rail: 7 New Corridors Proposed Amid Bullet Train Delays

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced seven new high-speed rail corridors in the budget, aiming to enhance connectivity across India.
• The proposed routes include Mumbai-Pune, Pune-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Hyderabad-Chennai, Chennai-Bengaluru, Delhi-Varanasi, and Varanasi-Siliguri.
• The Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet Train Project, India's first HSR, faces delays; only the Surat to Vapi section is expected by August 2027, with full completion by late 2029.
• The new Delhi-Varanasi HSR corridor is projected to reduce travel time to approximately three hours, a significant improvement over current services.
• The cost of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai project has nearly doubled from Rs 1.08 lakh crore to Rs 1.98 lakh crore due to delays and land acquisition issues, particularly in Maharashtra.

Why It Matters: India's budget prioritizes high-speed rail expansion with seven new corridors, despite ongoing delays and cost overruns for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet Train.