The Indian Railway has begun land acquisition for the country's first bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Railways require 1,100 hectares of land for constructing the 508 km high speed corridor, for which land acquisition plan has been submitted to the local administration in 12 districts of Maharashtra and Gujarat. A top railway official said at that least 70 per cent of land has to be acquired before actual construction work begins.

"Tenders cannot be floated unless 60 to 70 per cent of the land is acquired. As per the Japanese practice, actual construction work can be started only after getting possession of the land. This essentially aims at ensuring uninterrupted work," said a senior railway ministry official. He said the prime minister's office was closely monitoring the progress of the project and the authorities have been clearly instructed to avoid any delay in the execution of the project.

The alignment of the corridor passes through 9 districts of Gujarat and 3 districts in Maharashtra, for which the details of land acquisition have been submitted to the district administration. The district administration has been told to begin the land acquisition process at the earliest, officials said, adding that the process has to be completed by March next year.

Once the land is acquired, tenders will be floated for the construction of viaducts and other physical works. To ensure that the construction work does not hit any hindrance, the National High Speed Rail Corporation has agreed to construct roads parallel to the bullet train viaduct for the convenience of the locals. Plus, it has communicated to the Maharashtra and Gujarat governments that it will construct roads under the bullet train tracks for connectivity to the local residents.

A senior railway board official said that the project has been put in the fast lane by converting it into an elevated corridor. This will save railways the hassles and inordinate delays arising due to land acquisition. "Railways would now require 1,100 hectares of land as against 1,650 hectares, with most part of the corridor going elevated," said an official. The high-speed rail project would cost around Rs 1.10 lakh crore.

Japan is giving a soft loan of around Rs 8,000 crore at an interest rate of 0.1 per cent, to be repaid in 50 years with a 15-year grace period. Under the project, there would be 12 stations between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, namely Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad and Sabarmati.

The train speed is likely to be around 320 km per hour. The groundbreaking ceremony for the ambitious project, commonly referred to as the bullet train project, was performed on September 14 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe. A foundation stone was also laid for a high speed railway training centre at Vadodara where 4,000 staff members will initially be trained.