Bhubaneswar, Feb. 10 -- With the Union Budget unveiling plans for seven new high-speed rail corridors connecting major Indian cities, ideas are now emerging in eastern states about what such transformative infrastructure could mean beyond the flagged routes.

While none of the officially announced high-speed rail corridors run through Odisha yet, planners and locals are quietly studying how high-speed rail might one day tie the state into the national network.

Odisha's rail network today stretches almost 3,000 km and is fully electrified, but large parts of the state still have limited rail connectivity, especially in interior and southern Odisha.

If a high-speed train corridor were extended to the state, either as a spur from an existi...