Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet train to be ready by 2023; PM Modi, Japan's Abe to lay foundation stone next month

Key Highlights

• Construction work of Bullet train to be completed by 2022-2023
• PM Modi and Japan's Abe to lay foundation next month
• Bullet train will run at a speed of 320 km per hour

India will get its first bullet train in next six years. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday said that the construction of India's first bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad will be completed by 2022-2023. 

Prabhu said this while replying to a question in Lok Sabha. 

He said that the foundation stone of the project will be laid next month during the official visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be present during the "Bhoomi Poojan". 

The bullet train will run at the speed of 320 km per hour, will match the speed of the leading highspeed train systems across the world.

A 508-km stretch between Ahmedabad-Mumbai will be entirely elevated that will save railways' hassles of legal and environmental delays, owing to land acquisition.

Prabhu in a debate in the Lok Sabha in May last year, had said the government had managed to secure a soft loan of Rs 1 lakh crore from Japan at a mere 0.1% interest.

"The technology to be used for bullet trains will help improve the services of normal trains and the integration of signalling system," Prabhu had said.

In February, a Railway Board document had stated that the Board wants 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. 

The estimated time for the train with three halts is two hours seven minutes to reach the final destination, which is Sabarmati near Ahmedabad. While, the train with 10 hours is expected to touch Sabarmati in two hours 58 minutes.

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