Bandra Kurla Complex to be Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train's first stop

Bullet train between Mumbai-Ahmedabad soon will be a reality as the starting point for the route will be resolved by this week.

The first station for the buller train will be underground from Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai. The fast train will travel for 21km under the sea and emerge over ground at Thane. 

Earlier, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority had objected the station plan stating that they want the same area to be used for a financial services centres, as reported by NDTV Profit.

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However, Ministry of Railways on Monday decided that they will build an underground station for the bullet train with the corporate building above it, the report said.

The bullet train will reduce the travel time to Ahmedabad-Mumbai to just two hours as against the current travel time of seven hours. 

In the previous reports, it was mentioned that Railway Board wanted to start two bullet train services on Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor. First, train from BKC with only three stops, namely, Surat, Vadodara and Ahmedabad). Second, train from BKC with 10 stops, namely, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad. 

Last year in May, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha in a written reply in the Lok Sabha had said that the first phase of the Indian network will have a maximum design speed of 350 km per hour and an operating speed of 320 km per hour.

The ministry expects around 36,000 daily users per day both ways by 2023, going up to 186,000 by 2053. Estimated cost of this project is about Rs 97,636 crore and 81% of the project will funded by Japan.

That time, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had brushed aside criticism of bullet trains being an expensive proposition for the country, saying the government had managed to secure a soft loan of Rs 1 lakh crore from Japan at a mere 0.1% interest.