Chennai is set to get two new routes of high-speed rail in the future.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in the Union budget 2026, presented on Sunday, announced seven new high-speed rail (HSR) corridors, including two corridors from Chennai. The seven HSR corridors are: Mumbai to Pune, Pune to Hyderabad, Chennai to Bengaluru, Chennai to Hyderabad, Hyderabad to Bengaluru, Delhi to Varanasi, and Varanasi to Siliguri. The project would be executed by National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL).
In the wake of the country set to witness the operation of bullet trains from Mumbai to Ahmedabad in a few years, the construction of the two HSR corridors from the city to Bengaluru and Hyderabad would be a big boost to the thousands of passengers.
A senior official of the Southern Railway said the routes to Bengaluru and Hyderabad are in high demand as numerous mail and express trains are operated from Chennai, including the double-decker train. More than 25 mail and express trains are operated from and via Chennai to Bengaluru, the railway official pointed out.
Last year, the Union Railway Minister had announced that a detailed project report for the HSR corridor from Chennai to Hyderabad, with a stop at Tirupati was being prepared.
A senior railway official said that trains in the new high-speed rail corridor would be operated at a minimum speed of 230 km/h, while the bullet trains would be operated at a speed of 370 km/h. For the HSR corridor, new tracks, similar to international standards, similar to those of bullet trains, would be constructed. The HSR corridors would be operated between cities where most passengers undertake air travel. At present, the Chennai to Bengaluru travel time in trains, including the Vande Bharat, is around six hours, and more than 12 hours to Hyderabad. In the HSR corridor, the travel time to Bengaluru would be less than three hours.
However, residents in the city are disappointed, and said that an HSR to Coimbatore would have paved the way for creating a business and tourism corridor. Coimbatore has many heavy industries and also remains the gateway for tourists visiting Ooty.
Transport activist Dayanand Krishnan said it was very disappointing to note that the High-Speed Rail (HSR) network planned for Tamil Nadu benefits only Chennai city, which lies at the northern part of the State. “To truly benefit a highly urbanised State like Tamil Nadu, with a population of around 8 crore, the HSR alignment should cover major cities such as Coimbatore in western Tamil Nadu and Madurai in southern Tamil Nadu, connecting them to the capital, Chennai. Extending the proposed HSR connectivity further to Bengaluru and Hyderabad would be a huge welcome and a significant advantage for the people of Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Published – February 01, 2026 07:40 pm IST
