Bullet train project | First section to be completed in August 2026: Railway minister

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday (November 29) provided a major update about India’s first bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Vaishnaw said that the country’s first bullet train section of 50 kilometres between Bilimora and Surat in Gujarat will be completed in three years’ time – August 2026.

“Progress of Bullet Train project: Till date: 21.11.2023. Pillars: 251.40 Km. Elevated super-structure: 103.24 Km,” Vaishnaw said in a post on X.

The bullet train project will cost Rs 1.08 lakh crore. As per the shareholding pattern, the Union government will pay Rs 10,000 crore to the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), while Gujarat and Maharashtra are to pay Rs 5,000 crore each.

As a part of a cooperation agreement between India and Japan, Government of Japan will provide a soft loan of about Rs 88,000 crore at an interest rate of 0.1%.

The repayment period of the loan is 50 years. Repayment of loan is to begin after 15 years of receiving the loan, making it practically free since, this loan interest works out to roughly Rs 7-8 crore per month.

Meanwhile, last week, the NHSRCL building the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor said that 100 kilometres of viaducts and 230 kilometres of pier work had been completed for the ambitious project.

The milestone of construction of 100 km of viaducts has been achieved through launching of 40-metre long ‘full span box girders’ and ‘segmental girders’, the NHSRCL said.

Vaishnaw had uploaded a video on X, formerly Twitter, to inform about the feat.

According to NHSRCL, the viaducts include bridges over six Gujarat rivers, namely Par and Auranga in Valsad district, as well as Purna, Mindhola, Ambika and Venganiya in Navsari district.

“The first girder of the project was launched on November 25, 2021, while the first kilometre of viaduct was ready in six months on June 30, 2022. It achieved construction of 50 kilometres of viaduct on April 22, 2023 and, thereafter, in six months 100 kilometres of viaduct were completed,” the NHSRCL said.

“The Full Span Launching technique (FSLM), where 40-metre long box girders are launched by state-of-the-art equipment, is being used along with span by span launching of segments. FSLM is 10 times faster than the span by span method, which is normally used to build metro viaducts,” it added.

According to NHSRCL, apart from the viaduct work, 250 kilometres of pier work has also been completed for the project, while installation of noise barriers has begun along the constructed viaduct.

“Besides this, the laying of the first reinforced concrete (RC) track bed for the Mumbai Ahmedabad high speed rail corridor track system as used in the Japanese Shinkansen has also started in Surat,” the NHSRCL informed.

(With agency inputs)