In order to become one of the few countries having bullet trains and to put Ayodhya on the world tourist map, a roadmap for running a super-high-speed train between Delhi and the temple town is being fast-tracked, keeping in mind the upcoming UP elections.

A 130 km railway track will be laid connecting Ayodhya to Lucknow, which will be part of the 941.5 km high-speed railway corridor linking Delhi to Varanasi via Agra-Lucknow-Allahabad. A portion of the high-speed train railway corridor may go underground in Lucknow and Agra, the official said.

The bullet train service is expected to reduce the 670 km distance between New Delhi and Ayodhya to 3 hours and will run at 320 km/hr, as per reports. The terminal to cater to the project will be built near the proposed Shree Ramchandra Airport international airport on Lucknow-Faizabad national highway for which permission has been sought from the AAI.

Reports suggest that NHSRC has even applied for the ‘no objection certificate’ (NOC) from the Airport Authority of India. A senior NHSRC official has informed that as soon as the NOC is received, the work on the project will start. The plan is to connect the land of Lord Ram directly with Delhi.

Two pairs of bullet trains will be running on the route—one between New Delhi and Ayodhya and another between New Delhi and Varanasi. The cost of the entire project of connecting Ayodhya and Varanasi with Delhi through high-speed bullet trains is estimated to be Rs 2 lakh crore.