Delhi to Siliguri in 6 hours? West Bengal set to get its first bullet train

Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday announced a bullet train project connecting Delhi and Siliguri, saying the high-speed corridor would cut travel time between the two cities to just six hours from the current 20 hours.

The proposed corridor will be India’s second bullet train project after the 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail line, which is expected to become operational next year.

“A bullet train project will come to West Bengal. It will connect Delhi and Siliguri via Lucknow, Varanasi and Patna,” Vaishnaw said during a visit to Kolkata.

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The announcement came as the Union minister unveiled what he described as a major rail infrastructure push in West Bengal. Vaishnaw said railway projects worth more than Rs 1 lakh crore are currently under implementation in the state.

During the visit, Vaishnaw also met Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and credited him with the BJP’s electoral victory in the state.

“Congratulations on the way you have saved Bengal. Now you can work. For so many years, development work was stopped here,” Vaishnaw told the chief minister.

Adhikari said the state government would work with the Centre to speed up pending railway projects and assured support on land acquisition.

“Just as we have provided land to the BSF to strengthen border security, we will similarly provide land to the Railways for various projects across West Bengal,” he said.

Sixty next-generation trains for Kolkata Metro 

Highlighting ongoing railway initiatives, Vaishnaw said Kolkata Metro would receive 60 new-generation trains over the next five years. He said 102 railway stations across West Bengal are being redeveloped under the Amrit Bharat scheme.

 “In the next five years, 60 next-generation trains will be introduced for Kolkata Metro. Today, I took the Kolkata Metro. We will revamp it,” the railway minister said. 

The minister accused the previous Trinamool Congress government of delaying several railway and metro projects. Referring to the Chingrighata metro project, he said legal disputes had slowed work on a key stretch.

“Projects valued at around Rs 1.02 lakh crore have been pending implementation for a long time… You may recall the case of the metro project at Chingrighata, where the TMC government pursued legal challenges all the way to the Supreme Court,” Vaishnaw said.

“Their attitude was not to allow any development works,” he added.

Vaishnaw also compared the pace of metro expansion before and after 2014. According to him, Kolkata Metro added only 28 km of network between 1972 and 2014, while 45 km of metro lines have been completed since 2014.

“After PM Modi came to power in 2014, 45 kilometres of metro lines have been completed in just 12 years,” he said.

The proposed Delhi-Siliguri bullet train corridor, if implemented, would significantly improve connectivity to North Bengal and the gateway to the Northeast, while becoming India’s second high-speed rail project.