The premiere think-tank of the Government of India, NITI Aayog has approved investments worth Rs 18,000 crore for high-speed rail projects for major routes of Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata, Union Minister for Railways, Suresh Prabhu said at an ASSOCHAM event held in New Delhi recently.

"We are working on Gatiman Express which is India's fastest train at 180 km per hour and trying for Mumbai-Delhi and Delhi-Kolkata which are major routes with a speed of maximum 200 km per hour (kmph) and that will be an investment of Rs 18,000 crore which has already been approved by the NITI Aayog," said Prabhu while inaugurating an ASSOCHAM International Conference - RAILTECH 2017.

"When we proposed it, they were apprehensive but now everybody realises importance of it as it is a least-cost option, so we are trying to do that, you can imagine the trains can go at that speed from Delhi to Mumbai and how much travel time will be reduced," he said.

He also said that Railways Ministry is working with many countries to increase the speed of operations, including France.

"There are a lot of studies which are going on and they are in a very advanced stage, so we will start implementing that in the next few months' time," the Union Minister said.

He added that the Government is working towards introducing cutting-edge technology of future in all aspects of railways with it not only being imported but being co-developed in India.

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