Parandur’s bullet train station just got demoted in the Chennai-Bengaluru plan

A change in station planning has emerged as the Centre moves ahead on India’s third bullet train project, connecting Chennai and Bengaluru. The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited had originally proposed a full station at Parandur in Tamil Nadu as part of its detailed project report. In the latest tender for pre-construction activity, however, Parandur has been marked only as a ‘future station’, while the rest of the corridor’s stations are classified as ‘stop stations’.

The tender covers the 306.2km corridor and directs the contractor to work on an updated alignment for the project, which currently comprises eight stations in total, including three within Tamil Nadu: Chennai Central, Poonamalle and Parandur. Officials said that regardless of whether the Parandur station is eventually built, a new station will still be planned to serve residents of Kancheepuram, Arakkonam and Sriperambudur, with the final decision depending on airport connectivity in the area.

The first station on the route will be built on the western side of Chennai Suburban Railway Station, connected to Chennai Central and its metro station via 100-metre and 50-metre linkages. The Poonamalle station, meanwhile, will have links to the Outer Ring Road as well as a metro station. Residents in Vellore district will be able to access a station at Chittor, located about 20km to the north.

Beyond Tamil Nadu, the corridor runs elevated through Perambur, Kolathur, ICF, Madhavaram, Padi, the Chennai Bypass and Chennai-Thiruvallur Highway before it joins the Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway alignment, passing through Chittoor, Kolar, Kodihalli and White Field, and terminating at Baiyappanahalli in Bengaluru. Three tunnels are planned along the way: a 1.7km stretch at Chennai Central, an 11.8km tunnel through the Kaundinya wildlife sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh, and a 14.7km tunnel under Bengaluru. Roughly 28km of the 306km corridor will run underground.

Land acquisition is already under way in 41 villages along the route, according to officials. The bullet train is expected to run at 350kmph once complete, cutting travel time between Chennai and Bengaluru to under an hour, compared with about seven hours currently by road.

The project, expected to be completed by 2035, carries an estimated cost of close to ₹18,000 crore, a figure that will be finalised once the contractor submits a revised alignment study. It is the third bullet train corridor under construction in India, following the Mumbai-Ahmedabad and Delhi-Varanasi projects.

Image credit: Ministry of Railways / GODL-India.