Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the Southern Bullet Train Corridor. The high-speed line will link Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Amaravati and Chennai. It aims to connect some of South India’s major technology and economic hubs.
Vaishnaw made the announcement while flagging off the Bengaluru–Mumbai Vande Bharat Sleeper service. He shared the expected travel times on the corridor:
- Bengaluru–Chennai: about 73 minutes
- Bengaluru–Hyderabad: about 2 hours 10 minutes
Hyderabad is positioned as a future high-speed rail (HSR) hub. The Union Budget 2026-27 listed three proposed corridors for the city among seven new HSR corridors: Hyderabad–Pune/Mumbai, Hyderabad–Bengaluru and Hyderabad–Chennai (via Amaravati). Earlier 2026 estimates put the Hyderabad–Pune journey at about 1 hour 55 minutes and Amaravati–Hyderabad at about 70 minutes. Trains are expected to run at speeds of up to 300 kmph, while indigenous B28-class trainsets under development are designed for about 280 kmph.
The projects remain at the planning stage. On 30 October 2026, Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy met Vaishnaw in New Delhi. He requested early approval of modified alignments, faster preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) and sanctions for all three corridors. The state has not begun land acquisition. It will start only after the Centre finalises the alignments.
All three corridors are planned to converge at a common Hyderabad HSR station at Shamshabad, near Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. The state has earmarked about 400 acres there for the station, depot and Operations Control Centre. A larger area of more than 1,100 acres has been notified for an Integrated Mobility Hub. The hub is meant to link HSR, metro, a bus terminal and the airport.
DPRs for the segments are in progress or under review. No physical work has started on the Hyderabad-related corridors. Full construction is likely after 2027, once DPRs, land acquisition and final approvals are complete. India’s first bullet train remains the Mumbai–Ahmedabad project, with partial operations targeted around 2027.
