Tamil Nadu has written to the Railway Board seeking permission to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for a proposed bullet train project connecting the state with Kerala through two corridors.
The move comes as the Union government advances plans for high-speed rail across India, with bullet train projects identified on 17 routes nationwide. Work is currently under way on the Mumbai–Ahmedabad corridor in the first phase.
The Centre has also announced bullet train corridors such as Hyderabad–Chennai and Mysuru–Chennai. Following this, the Tamil Nadu government has proposed extending high-speed connectivity towards Kerala.
The state has sought approval to prepare DPRs for two alignments: Chennai–Tiruchirappalli–Nagercoil–Thiruvananthapuram, and Chennai–Salem–Coimbatore–Ernakulam.
Separately, Tamil Nadu has also requested permission to prepare a DPR to extend the East Coast freight corridor, which is currently planned up to Vijayawada, further south from Chennai to Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari.
