India is planning one of the world’s largest high-speed rail networks — eight bullet train corridors totalling over 4,500 km. Only one is under construction today, but the map for the next decade is already taking shape.

What counts as a bullet train in India

The National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL) defines high-speed rail as 250 km/h and above on dedicated standard-gauge track. That is a different system from India’s broad-gauge network — new land, new stations, new signalling. The first line, Mumbai–Ahmedabad (508 km, 12 stations, 2 hr 07 min), uses Japanese Shinkansen E5 technology and is being built for 320 km/h operation.

Semi high-speed — 160 to 200 km/h on upgraded broad-gauge — is the Vande Bharat tier. Both matter, but only the 250+ tier is a “bullet train” in the global sense. This atlas tracks the 250+ tier separately from the 160 tier so you can compare them without mixing the two.

The eight corridors on the map

Eight corridors have been announced or taken up for detailed project reports. One is under construction, seven are proposed or at the “announced corridor” stage where a final alignment has not been published:

  • Mumbai–Ahmedabad — under construction, partial opening targeted for 2027. 12 stations from Bandra Kurla Complex to Sabarmati, including India’s first undersea-influenced rail sea bridge at Thane Creek.
  • Delhi–Varanasi — 800 km, 12 stations, linking the capital with Agra, Lucknow, Ayodhya, Prayagraj and Varanasi. DPR stage.
  • Varanasi–Siliguri — 724 km through Bihar to the Siliguri gateway. Announced; alignment provisional.
  • Delhi–Ahmedabad — 886 km western spine via Gurugram, Jaipur, Ajmer and Udaipur.
  • Mumbai–Hyderabad — 711 km Deccan corridor via Pune, Solapur and Kalaburagi.
  • Bengaluru–Hyderabad — 607 km southern corridor (Hyderabad, Kurnool, Anantapur, Hindupur, Devanahalli, Kodihalli) announced in Budget 2026-27. Station list provisional.
  • Bengaluru–Chennai — 306 km southern corridor (Baiyappanahalli, Whitefield, Kodihalli, Kolar, Chittoor, Parandur, Poonamallee, Chennai Central) also announced in 2026-27. Final alignment not yet published.
  • Delhi–Amritsar — 476 km north corridor via Panipat, Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Jalandhar.

How to read the timeline

“Under construction” means land and civil works are underway. “Proposed” means a DPR or feasibility study has been commissioned. “Announced corridor” means the government has named the city pair and, in some cases, indicative station towns — the engineering alignment is still being finalised. Treat station lists for announced corridors as provisional; we mark them as such and update every page as official station lists land.

What to watch next

Three signals matter: land acquisition notifications, DPR approvals, and station-list gazettes. When those arrive, journey times and distances firm up. Bookmark the corridor pages on this atlas — every map and stop table is updated when the next official milestone is published — and check the bullet train map for the network view.