Bullet train tickets to be priced at normal Indian Railways rates, says Maharashtra CM

In what will come as a great news for those who were dreaming of travelling on Bullet trains, it has been revealed that the tickets for the same will be equivalent to those of Indian Railways. Bullet train fares of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad would be comparable to existing conventional Indian Railways fares, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the Legislative Council. He was responding to a calling attention motion by Congress' Sanjay Dutt. Dutt claimed that 67 per cent of the high speed rail's route would be in Gujarat yet the financial share of Maharashtra was equal to that of the neighbouring state and demanded a cost benefit analysis. "Priority should have been the safety of passengers, modernisation of tracks. An IIM study says the bullet train will need to make 100 rounds and ferry one lakh commuters daily for it to be viable," Dutt said. Fadnavis said economic viability had been checked. "The cost of commuting in a bullet train ticket would be as much as the normal railway fare," Fadnavis said.

Fadnavis, replying to the motion, said airports continued to be built across the country despite just three per cent of people travelling by air because mobility led to development and growth. He said that the bullet train project, first proposed under then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, would be replicated on other routes as well once the first one is completed. He said the loan provided by Japan was for a period of 50 years and that no money had to be returned for the first 20 years, adding that the rate of interest was less than 0.5 per cent.
Responding to Dutt's contention of cost sharing between Maharashtra and Gujarat, Fadnavis said three states had contributed to the formation of Konkan Railway, while Maharashtra had benefited the most from it.

(With inputs from agencies)