A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off his high profile bullet train project from Ahmedabad, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee too sought a similar project for her state.

After chairing a crucial meeting to revamp infrastructure in the state, Banerjee on Friday announced that her government was keen to have a high speed rail corridor between Burdwan and Kolkata.

"We had a plan. We even wrote to the Union Rail Ministry seeking a bullet train project from Durgapur till Kolkata, connecting the new airport at Andal with the existing Dumdum airport so that anyone can reach Kolkata from Andal in an hour," she said.

BANERJEE'S PLANS

Banerjee said the country's first private greenfield airport, the Bengal Aerotropolis Project at Andal in Burdwan was being made effective as the capacity of the existing Kolkata airport will soon get stagnant.

Accordingly, the state government has decided to increase its stake to 15 per cent with infusing funds in order to make the project viable.

The state government currently holds 11 per cent stake in BAPL (Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited), while Singapore's Changi Airport continues to remain the majority stakeholder with 31 per cent stake.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe laid the foundation stone for India's first bullet train network on the Ahmedabad - Mumbai route. The ambitious project is pegged at a whopping Rs 1.1 lakh crore.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said her state government too wants high speed bullet trains. Banerjee said, a proposal to this effect had also been sent to the Union Rail Ministry to improve connectivity between state capital Kolkata and the new Andal airport in Burdwan.

Now, Mamata Banerjee wants a bullet train for West Bengal

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday announced that her government was keen to have a high speed rail corridor between Burdwan and Kolkata.