MUMBAI: The Western Railway (WR) has prepared a Rs 1,100 crore plan to reduce travel time between the city and Ahmedabad, the busiest Indian Railways corridor, by at least two hours. The WR has plans to increase the speed of some trains on the corridor to 160 kmph.For this, the WR will have to undertake improvement of tracks, barricading of vulnerable locations and regulating the over head equipment (OHE), among other things.“We have submitted initial estimates for the speed improvement project to the railway board for approval,” WR chief public relations Sharat Chandrayan said.If the initial estimates are approved, a detailed estimate will be prepared and tenders invited.“The entire exercise can be completed in a year,” a senior official said. “We can complete the infrastructure improvement work on the 493 km corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad in five to six months after the contractors are appointed.”On a regular train, it takes between seven and to eight hours to cover the distance between the city and Ahmedabad and two hours is a substantial saving in time if it happens.The railway board has selected nine corridors to run trains at the “semi-high speed” of 160 kmph. The Mumbai-Goa and Mumbai-Ahmedabad routes are among these.“In the first phase, only the trains that run with LHB type fully air-conditioned coaches like Shatabdi, Duranto and Rajdhani will be able to attain the speed of 160 kmph,” a railway official said. “The increase in speed in other trains will be done in the second phase.”The WR has already carried out successful trials to run the trains on the corridor at 130 kmph.“We are awaiting clearance from commissioner of railway safety, after which some trains can run at this speed and help reduce travel time by 30 minutes,” Chandrayan said.India’s first bullet train is also expected to run between the city and Ahmedabad. For this project, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is expected to submit its final feasibility study report by May 2015.An interim study ruled out bullet trains on the existing system because the line is saturated and the infrastructure incapable of handling high-speed trains.The study said the bullet train fare would be 1.5 times the first AC fare. This will allow the high-speed system to generate Rs 80 million per day. As many as 40,000 passengers will be able to use the bullet train by 2023.