The central government is planning seven new high-speed rail corridors following the Mumbai-Ahmedabad project with the Delhi-Varanasi line among priority routes. The Delhi-Varanasi corridor is planned to link the national capital with Uttar Pradesh cities including Sarai Kale Khan, Noida International Airport, Mathura, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Ayodhya, Prayagraj and Varanasi and is expected to cut the journey to around three and a half hours. The proposal has reached the detailed project report (DPR) stage and will require approvals, funding decisions and land acquisition.

Officials have proposed an extension from Varanasi to Siliguri to create a link across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, with possible stations in Bihar such as Buxar, Patna and Kishanganj. The Varanasi-Patna-Siliguri stretch is estimated at 805 km and, when joined to the Delhi-Varanasi section, would yield a network of roughly 1700 km. Preliminary aerial and ground surveys have begun for proposed high-speed links from Varanasi towards Howrah and Siliguri.

Subject to clearances and land availability, the initial phase is likely to focus on linking Delhi with Agra and Lucknow using a standardised design to speed planning and construction. India’s high-speed trains are expected to operate at up to 320 kmph with infrastructure designed for around 350 kmph, and the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor spans about 508 km with a section between Surat and Bilimora targeted for 2027. Wider expansion across multiple corridors could involve investment running into several lakh crore rupees.

Other proposed routes include a Mumbai-Pune corridor of about 170 km that would cut travel to roughly 50 minutes and a Pune-Hyderabad link of around 600 km that could reduce the journey to about two hours. Southern and central proposals include a Bengaluru-Chennai corridor of roughly 358 km with an estimated journey of one hour and 15 minutes, a Bengaluru-Hyderabad route of about 716 km taking around two and a half hours, and a Chennai-Hyderabad link of roughly three hours. Many corridors remain at planning stages and final routes, stations and timelines will depend on feasibility studies and clearances.