Delhi to Patna in a little over four hours could sound like a distant proposition, but India’s high-speed rail plans are beginning to point in that direction. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has outlined a proposed bullet train corridor that could connect Delhi with some of the biggest cities across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, bringing a significant change to how travellers move through the region.
The proposed route would link Delhi with Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi and Patna. If the plan takes shape, the approximately 1,170-kilometre journey between Delhi and Patna could take around 4.5 hours. Delhi to Lucknow, meanwhile, could be covered in about 2 hours 12 minutes. For now, these are proposed travel times rather than train schedules, and there is no construction timeline or confirmed launch date for the corridor.