Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday unveiled plans to roll out seven high-speed rail corridors across India as part of the Union Budget 2026, marking a major push to upgrade the nation’s passenger transport network.
While presenting the Budget in Parliament, Sitharaman said the proposed corridors would link major urban centres and help spur economic activity in fast-growing cities, describing them as “growth collectors” that would support regional development, The Times of India reported.
ALSO READ | Budget 2026: Panel proposed to strengthen link between edu, jobs, enterprise
The proposed high-speed rail plan includes two routes connecting the Karnataka capital to other metro cities, one being the Hyderabad-Bengaluru corridor, and the other a Chennai to Bengaluru one. The other routes include Pune-Hyderabad, Mumbai-Pune, a Hyderabad-Chennai corridor, Delhi-Varanasi, and finally, one between Varanasi and Siliguri.
ALSO READ | 'Holy moly!': Bengaluru CEO reacts to Budget 2026 announcement on Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGB)
How Karnataka, Tamil Nadu leaders reacted
Political reactions to the Union Budget’s high-speed rail announcement were sharply divided, with opposition parties in the south accusing the Centre of neglecting their states. In Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah strongly criticised the Union Budget, calling it “disappointing” and lacking foresight. He alleged that a “big injustice” had been done not just to Karnataka but to the entire southern region.
The CM said the only major mentions of Karnataka in the Budget were the Bengaluru-Chennai and Hyderabad-Bengaluru high-speed rail corridors, which he claimed would benefit Telangana and Tamil Nadu more than Karnataka. He added that the state’s demands for other corridors such as Bengaluru-Mumbai, Bengaluru-Mangaluru and Bengaluru-Pune had been ignored.
“Karnataka has been given 'Chombu' (an empty small, round water container) in the budget,” he said, as per PTI.
ALSO READ | Budget 2026: Five university townships to boost learning, jobs
Meanwhile, DMK spokesperson Constantine Ravindran said the proposed high-speed rail corridors offered nothing meaningful to Tamil Nadu, arguing that none of the routes were meant for operations within the state.
“…The high speed rail link is not for operations within Tamil Nadu; one proposed connection is towards Bengaluru and another link terminates in Chennai; hence, Nirmala Sitharaman has again given zero as a gift to Tamil Nadu,” he said, as quoted in the PTI report.
In contrast, BJP leader Narayanan Thirupathy welcomed the announcement, saying, “Among the seven high-speed rail corridor projects to be implemented, the inclusion of Chennai-Bengaluru and Chennai-Hyderabad is special.”
(With inputs from PTI)