Chennai-Bangalore Bullet train only after feasibility study

Chennai:

Bullet train between Chennai and Bangalore could become a reality only after a feasibility study clears it, according to Shinya Fuji, director general of Japan External Trade Organisation.

Fuji told reporters here on Tuesday on the sidelines of seminar on ‘Innovative Technologies in Environment and Clean Energy’ that both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka government has urged Japan for a bullet train between Chennai and Bangalore.

“The project is still at the discussion stage. Once the feasibility study is conducted during the next financial year, it would be possible to know then whether bullet train is feasible or not,” he added.

Fuji said the focus of Japan is more on developing the Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor besides high-speed freight train from Ennore to Bangalore. “The feasibility study is being conducted on both these projects by April this year,” he said.

He also said that Hitachi is still in race for offering monorail technology to Tamil Nadu. “They have bid for the tenders,” he said.

Earlier, Hitachi’s Yoshitaka Hirabaya, whose company developed Tokyo monorail in 1960, had expressed keenness to develop city’s monorail and said that Japan’s technology is proven and is used for public purposes unlike the technologies of Malaysia where it is used for amusement purposes.

He said a nine-member Japanese business delegation has only come to visit Chennai for having business dialogue while highlighting the importance of Tamil Nadu capital to Japanese businessmen.

He said while some of the companies already have a presence in India, some are scouting for partners in Chennai.