The high-speed corridor was being planned in view of the development of Mihan at Nagpur. The idea was to launch a train that would cover the nearly 900km distance between Mumbai and Nagpur in three-and-a-half-hours. The two cities were to be connected by high-speed trains operating on magnetic levitation (Maglev) technology.
The cabinet had approved the proposal and a feasibility study was conducted by German consulting major Vossing. In its pre-feasibility report submitted to the government around two years ago, Vossing had said it was a viable proposition. However, the proposal seems to have been dumped.
Jayant Patil reiterated on Wednesday, "The proposal is still alive and lying with the planning department."
However, the Mumbai-Nagpur proposal doesn't find place in the list of six high-speed passenger rail corridors identified for conducting pre-feasibility studies by the railways in a recent progress report.
The six high-speed train corridors proposed by the railways include the Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar (450km); Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad (650km); Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijaywada-Chennai (664km); Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam (649km); Howrah-Haldia (135km); and Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna (991km). None of the corridors passes through Nagpur.
A consultant appointed in April 2009 has submitted the final report of pre-feasibility studies for the high-speed rail corridor between Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad, and the final report is under examination by all stakeholders i.e. Maharashtra and Gujarat governments, Central and Western Railway and various directorates of ministry of railways.
However, there is no mention of the corridor between Mumbai and Nagpur anywhere.
The railway report also states that bids have been invited for selecting the consultant for pre-feasibility studies for high-speed rail corridor between Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna and the corridor between Howrah-Haldia. Again, there is no mention about Mumbai-Nagpur corridor in this.
When this was pointed out to Patil, he said that the high-speed train project between Mumbai and Nagpur needs to be taken up separately. Railways must be considering only those projects that are revenue generating, he said.
"I had reminded ex-chief minister Ashok Chavan and will now again take up the issue with chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. A project of such high cost can be completed with public-private participation," Patil stressed.
The minister admitted that connecting Nagpur and Vidarbha via a high-speed corridor will boost local economy and speed up development of the region. Nagpur is already being developed as an international air cargo hub, he pointed out.
Repeated attempts to find out the exact status of the project from Central Railway PRO AK Singh at Mumbai drew a blank. Singh said his queries with officials found that they were not aware of any such project.
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