Arvind Panagariya, bureaucrats to hold meet for Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train in Tokyo tomorrow

The second meeting of high level Joint Committee on Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project will be held on Monday in Tokyo, Japan, said a Press Information Bureau release.

To take a step further towards the bullet train project, Arvind Panagariya, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman, AK Mital, Chairman of Railway Board, Shaktikanta Das, Secretary of Department of Economic Affairs, along with other senior bureaucrats to visit Tokya on Monday.

According to the release, during the meeting, the Committee will finalise the schedule of long-awaited bullet project and terms related to the appointment of General Consultant. The meeting will also focus on procurement conditions.

The appointment of General Consultant will help in starting the basic activities like designing and preparation of tender documents.

The release suggested that the loan agreement procedure may take time. The finalization of loan agreement will be done by the appointed General Consultant.

Further, on May 17, an industry interaction between Indian and Japanese companies is also scheduled. This interaction session will focus on Make in India and Transfer of Technology projects.

As per the release, May 17 event will see participated by 100 Japanese companies and 21 Indian companies like-- Tata Infrastructure, BHEL, Reliance Metro, IL&FS, Hindustan Construction Company, among others.

Earlier this month, the Indian Railway Ministry had proposed a tariff for the bullet train service, which was 1.5 times more than the first class AC fare prevailing now.

According to a media report, the ministry expects around 36,000 daily users per day both ways by 2023, going up to 186,000 by 2053.