Chennai: India’s third bullet train project from Chennai to Bengaluru has taken baby steps, with Centre floating tenders for pre-construction activity for the 306.2km corridor.The tender has directed the contractor to work on an updated alignment of the project, which currently has eight stations, including three in Tamil Nadu at Chennai Central, Poonamalle and Parandur.The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited had proposed a station at Parandur in its original DPR. In the latest tender, however, Parandur has been marked a ‘future station’. The rest of them are ‘stop stations’.The project, which is expected to be completed by 2035, promises to cut travel time to Bengaluru to less than an hour, as the bullet train is expected to run at 350kmph. Currently, it takes about seven hours to reach Bengaluru, and the Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway promises to cut it down to 3 hours.According to the terms of reference, the first station will be set up at the western side of Chennai Suburban Railway Station. It will be connected to Chennai Central and its metro station through 100m and 50m linkages.The corridor will have three tunnels, with one 1.7-km tunnel at Central. The rest of the corridor will be elevated and shall ply through Perambur, Kolathur, ICF, Grand Northern Trunk Road (Madhavaram), Padi (Karukku flyover), Chennai Bypass, Chennai Thiruvallur Highway, Annanur, Poonamalle and Arakkonam.From there, it will travel along the Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway, covering Chittoor, Kolar, Kodihalli, White Field, ending at Baiyappanahalli in Bengaluru. The project cost is expected to run close to ₹18,000 crore. The final value will be assessed by the contractor submitting the revised alignment study.The Poonamalle station will have links to the Outer Ring Road and a metro station. Whether a Parandur station comes up or not, a newer station will be set up for those in Kancheepuram, Arakkonam and Sriperambudur, depending on airport connectivity, officials said.Those in Vellore district can access the Chittor station, located 20km north. Land acqusition, meanwhile, is under way in 41 villages in the route, according to officials.Besides the tunnel at Central, two other tunnels will be constructed — one in AP’s Kaundinya wildlife sanctuary in the mountain ranges, running up to 11.8km, and another 14.7km Bengaluru urban tunnel. Out of the 306km, about 28km is underground.The tender also mandates the Indian Railways to coordinate with NHAI on connectivity to its Chennai-Bengaluru expressway (NE-7). Besides this, Union govt has been constructing Mumbai-Ahmedabad and Delhi-Varanasi bullet train corridors.
