PATNA, June 20 -- Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday said that a bullet train would soon connect Patna to Delhi, with only 4 hours and 41 minutes of travel by train required. A bullet train will run between Patna and Siliguri while preparations have started for this. The first bullet train is scheduled to run between Ahmedabad and Mumbai next year, the union minister added. Vaishnaw on Friday flagged off weekly express train between Chhapra to Anand Vihar Terminal along with chief minister Samrat Choudhary . The rail minister also inaugurated 14055/14056 Mau-Delhi Express, inaugurated the extension of the 65121/65122 Doharighat-Aunrihar MEMU service up to Varanasi City through video conferencing from Chhapra. Vaishnaw further said the central government is continuously working for the comprehensive development for railways infrastructure in Bihar. The union minister highlighted that the extension of the Doharighat train service to Varanasi City and the launch of the Chhapra-Delhi Weekly Express were both delivered within 39 days, fulfilling the commitments made to the people within the promised 40-day timeframe and Pune-Patna rail service has also been started. Addressing the function, the railway minister said before 2024, Bihar used to get a budget of about Rs.1,000 crore for railway development, but now this amount has increased to Rs.10,000 crore per year. In the last 12 years, new railway lines have been laid on a large scale in Bihar. It will be possible to run 200 new trains from Bihar within the next five to eight years. The third and fourth lines are being laid on different railway sections. The Railway Minister said that at present, 11 Amrit Bharat Express and 14 Vande Bharat trains are operating in Bihar. With the expansion of the railway network and the development of modern facilities, passengers are getting a better travel experience. Vaishnaw said in the coming years, Bihar will be connected with the bullet train project. The Prime Minister has also decided in the last budget to connect Delhi to Patna via Varanasi. This will be very useful for Bihar. Railway projects worth about 1 lakh 15 thousand crore rupees are underway in Bihar. A new station with five platforms is coming up to increase the capacity in the Patna area. The Railway Minister added that locomotives manufactured at the Marhaura diesel locomotive factory are now being exported to foreign countries. Today, 51 locomotive diesel engines were exported to Africa, he said. Meanwhile, Choudhary said that along with education, the state government is also laying special emphasis on technology-based development. "Work is underway on two big townships in Chhapra. The work of expansion and modernization of many railway lines in Bihar is underway," he added. Earlier in Patna, Vaishnaw interacted with startup innovators and young entrepreneurs, reaffirming the Government's commitment to fostering innovation, entrepreneurship and technology-led growth in Bihar. He reviewed live product demonstrations by Software Technology Park of India (STPI) incubatees and startups, appreciating the innovative solutions being developed by young entrepreneurs across emerging technology sectors. The Minister highlighted the importance of strengthening India's startup and innovation ecosystem, enabling entrepreneurs to transform ideas into scalable products and globally competitive enterprises. He also highlighted that the rapidly growing global semiconductor industry presents a major opportunity for India and assured support for establishing world-class semiconductor design facilities in Bihar's leading engineering institutions....