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Karnataka Commerce and Industries Minister MB Patil met Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and proposed a new bullet train corridor between Bengaluru and Mumbai.
Karnataka Commerce Minister MB Patil with Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. (Photo: X/@MBPatil)
After India announced new high-speed rail corridors in the Budget 2026-27, Karnataka Commerce and Industries Minister MB Patil met Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and proposed a new bullet train corridor between Bengaluru and Mumbai.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced seven high-speed rail corridors between cities to serve as ‘growth connectors’. These routes are between Mumbai-Pune, Pune-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Bengaluru, Hyderabad-Chennai, Chennai-Bengaluru, Delhi-Varanasi and Varanasi-Siliguri.
The Chennai–Bengaluru high-speed train is expected to reduce travel time to just 1 hour and 13 minutes, and the Bengaluru-Hyderabad journey will come down to around two hours.
MB Patil said on X that he submitted a personal request to Vaishnaw, seeking approval for a Vande Bharat Sleeper Express train from the state capital to Vijayapura, a high-speed rail corridor between Bengaluru and Mumbai, and daily special trains between Bengaluru and Vijayapura.
Why A High-Speed Rail Corridor Between Bengaluru, Mumbai?
Patil asserted that Bengaluru is the technology capital of the country, and Mumbai is the economic capital. “It is imperative to connect these two cities with the best connectivity system,” he said.
ಕೇಂದ್ರ ರೈಲ್ವೆ ಸಚಿವರಾದ ಶ್ರೀ ಅಶ್ವಿನಿ ವೈಷ್ಣವ್ ಅವರೊಂದಿಗೆ ರಾಜ್ಯದ ರೈಲ್ವೆ ಯೋಜನೆಗಳ ಕುರಿತು ಚರ್ಚೆಬೆಂಗಳೂರು-ಮುಂಬೈ ಹೈಸ್ಪೀಡ್ ರೈಲು, ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು- ವಿಜಯಪುರ ವಂದೇ ಭಾರತ್ ರೈಲು ಮತ್ತು ದಿನವಹಿ ವಿಶೇಷ ರೈಲಿಗೆ ಕೋರಿಕೆರಾಜ್ಯ ರಾಜಧಾನಿಯಿಂದ ವಿಜಯಪುರಕ್ಕೆ ವಂದೇ ಭಾರತ್ ಸ್ಲೀಪರ್ ಎಕ್ಸ್ಪ್ರೆಸ್ ರೈಲು, ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು-ಮುಂಬೈ ನಡುವೆ… pic.twitter.com/0ZaAp7ks0n
— M B Patil (@MBPatil) February 7, 2026
“The request was made to extend the high-speed rail corridor already announced between Mumbai and Pune up to Bengaluru, and the Railway Minister responded positively to this as well,” he said.
In his letter to Ashwini Vaishnaw, Patil appreciated the proposal for seven high-speed rail corridors in the Budget 2026-27, but also noted that the stretch falling within Karnataka was limited only to 100 km, which would give limited benefits to the people of the state.
“If this corridor is aligned through the central and northern regions of Karnataka, it would provide rapid connectivity to several important but presently under-connected regions of the styate. Further, the proposed corridor would extend substantially within Maharashtra as well, thereby benefitting the people of both Karnataka and Maharashtra socially and economically,” he added.
February 08, 2026, 15:57 IST
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