Railway Minister's Big Update on Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train: 'First Section to be Ready By...'

Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has announced that the ambitious first bullet train section in India will be completed between Bilimora and Surat in Gujarat in August 2026. The railways minister while announcing multiple plans to overhaul the country’s rail network and services said that the first stretch of 50 km of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor will run between Bilimora and Surat in Gujarat

The Railways Minister said the number of new trains in India had increased from before the pandemic- from 1,768 mail and express services to 2,124 at present, and from 5,626 suburban services to 5,774 at the moment, a report in NDTV said.

Ashwini Vaishnaw also gave updates about the Kavach system, an indigenous warning system to prevent train collisions and the Gajraj system, to stop collisions between elephants and trains.

He also informed that the Railways served 640 crore passengers in 2022-23 and the target for the current year is 750 crores.

Last week, the Railways Minister had informed that the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), which is building the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor, has completed 100 kilometres of viaducts and 230 kilometres of pier work.

“The first girder of the project was launched on November 25, 2021, while the first kilometer 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 kilometers of viaduct were completed,” the NHSRCL said.

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 added.

Viaducts, an extended bridge-like structures supported by piers or towers, play a significant role in carrying roads or railway tracks over valleys or gorges. More than 90 per cent of the track of the 508 km high-speed rail (HSR) corridor will be elevated.

The construction of the National High-Speed Railway corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad began in November 2021. The Bullet Train project will connect Maharashtra’s Mumbai city, and Gujarat’s Ahmedabad city through 12 stations. As per officials, trains on this corridor will reach speeds of up to 350 kilometres per hour.

The total cost of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor project is pegged at Rs 1.08 lakh crore. As per the shareholding pattern, the Union government will pay Rs 10,000 crore to the NHSRCL, while Gujarat and Maharashtra are to pay Rs 5,000 crore each. The rest of the cost is by way of a loan at 0.1 per cent interest from Japan.

The foundation of the bullet train project was laid in Ahmedabad in September 2017. The train is expected to cover a distance of more than 500 km in around two hours. The Rs 1.10 lakh crore project was expected to be completed by 2022, but faced hurdles in land acquisition.