Lalu checks out 300 km/hour bullet train in Japan

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, who has an ambitious plan for introducing high-speed train corridor in the country, today took a ride on the bullet train in Tokyo.

Prasad, accompanied by senior railway officials, got first-hand experience of the fast trains travelling from Tokyo to Kyoto at a speed of about 300 km per hour. He boarded Shinkansen -- the Japanese name for the bullet train – from the Tokyo station at 9.10 am (local time).

The Tokyo-Kyoto bullet train ride normally takes about two hours and 20 minutes to cover the distance of about 515 km between the two stations.

Later in the evening, he and his team will travel to Shin-Kobe by another bullet train. The team is also scheduled to again travel to Tokyo from Shin-Osaka station by Shinkansen on Wednesday.

Prasad is leading the team from the ministry to Japan to have a detailed discussion for a loan for the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC).

Meanwhile, the Railways have invited global tenders for conducting pre-feasibility study of high-speed train corridor on the Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar route.

The study will focus on technicalities, financial and operational viability of the project, said a senior Railway Ministry official.

Besides the Delhi-Amritsar route, the Railways have decided to conduct pre-feasibility studies for four more high-speed passenger routes.

The routes are Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Hyderabad- Dornakal-Vijaywada-Chennai, Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore- Ernakulum.