Over 70% bullet train project complete: Vaishnaw

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said 360 km of the bullet train project has been completed, with significant progress on the Maharashtra section that showed slow pace earlier due to a delay in permissions by the Uddhav Thackeray government.

"The bullet train project is making good progress, with 360 km completed. The project aims to create economic hubs along the route, boosting growth in cities like Mumbai, Thane, Vapi, Surat, Vadodra, Anand and Ahmedabad, making them interconnected as a single economic zone," Vaishnaw told mediapersons in Ahmedabad.

New economic hubs on route

The project aims to create economic hubs along the route, boosting growth in cities like Mumbai, Thane, Vapi, Surat, Vadodra, Anand and Ahmedabad, making them interconnected as a single economic zone.

Ashwini Vaishnaw, Railway Minister

Vaishnsaw said all these cities would get a huge economic boost from the project. “A bullet train should not be seen just as a means of transportation but as a project for the growth of the entire area,” he said.

He added that the Maharashtra section of the project was making good progress, with almost 2 km of the undersea tunnel completed.

He said the Uddhav Thacheray government in Maharashtra delayed the project by two-and-a-half-years. However, the  work was going on full swing.

Citing instances from Japan, Vaishnaw said while bullet train runs between Tokyo and Osaka, the six big stations between Tokyoi and Osaka - Nagoya, Kyoto, Atami, Shinagawa, Shin-Yokohama and Odawara - have become big industrial hubs, he said.

Vaishnaw said similar gains, in terms of growth, would be made on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train corridor.

“In the morning, a person would be able to have a breakfast of fafda-dhokla in Ahmedabad and attend to work in Mumbai during the day before returning home and spending time with kids in Ahmedabad,” he said.

Similarly, a person in Mumbai would begin the day with a breakfast of poha and complete his work in Surat during the day and return to Mumbai to spend time with the family in the evening, he said.

Trains on Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor will operate at a speed of 320 kmph, covering a distance 508 km and 12 Stations. There will be 35 trains per day/one direction, with a frequency of 20 minutes in peak hours and 30 minutes in non-peak hours.

With a limited stop (in Surat and Vadodara) service, it will cover this distance in 1 hour and 58 minutes and all stops service will take 2 hour 57 minutes. Operational Control centre for MAHSR corridor will be located at Sabarmati.