Government clears new bullet train route linking Delhi to Guwahati

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the North Corridor of the bullet train project. Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the new route on Saturday before launching the Vande Bharat Sleeper Express between Varanasi and New Delhi. The high-speed rail line will connect Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Ayodhya, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Patna, and Siliguri, and the route will also extend all the way to Guwahati.

Travel Times

The project will cut travel times across the region by a huge margin. The full journey between Delhi and Varanasi will take just three hours and 35 minutes. Passengers can travel from Delhi to Agra in 59 minutes, reach Kanpur in one hour and 45 minutes, and get to Lucknow in two hours and 12 minutes. The trip between Lucknow and Varanasi will take one hour and 21 minutes. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath added that an action plan is already ready to run the bullet train between Delhi and Varanasi.

Project Details

Vaishnaw stated that the entire project will be built under the Make in India initiative. Local youth and welders will do the construction work as the project moves ahead quickly. He also noted that Uttar Pradesh saw a massive twentyfold increase in its railway budget allocation, rising from 1,100 crore rupees under past governments up to 20,000 crore rupees.

Context

High-speed rail corridors aim to connect major economic and cultural centers to boost trade and cut travel times across dense regions. India's growing rail investments and local manufacturing goals under Make in India continue to shape large infrastructure plans across the country.