India's first bullet train project

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will lay the foundation stone for theconnecting Ahmedabad to Mumbai on Thursday.The high speed train, with 10 cars and capacity to accommodate 750 people, is expected to reduce travel time between the two cities from seven to three hours. Later, the train will have 16 cars which will accommodate 1,200 people.Around Rs 1.10 lakh crore will be spent on the project of which Rs 88,000 crore will be funded by a soft loan from Japan The completion deadline of December 2023 may be brought forward to August 2022 when the country celebrates 75 years of independence.The Japanese loan will be available at 0.1% interest rate and India will be able to repay this in 50 years. Repayment will begin 15 years after the loan is received.The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train, running at an operating speed of 320 kmph and maximum speed of 350 kmph, will pass through 12 stations — Bandra Kurla Complex, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad and Sabarmati.Of the 508 km corridor, 468km will be elevated, 27 km will pass through an undersea tunnel and the remaining 13 km will be the ground.Though the fare structure is yet to be finalised, it could be 1.5 times the existing AC first class fare. For travel from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, a passenger will have to pay between Rs 2,700 and Rs 3,000. The airplane fare on this route is between Rs 3,500 and Rs 4,000. An official said luxury bus fares from Mumbai to Ahmedabad were around Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000.The official said India would also get the safe Shinkansen technology and would manufacture parts in the country under ‘Make in India’.“This will help the ancillary industry grow, people will get employment and engineers will get opportunities to learn about new technology,” he said, adding that Japan was also ready to provide training on operation and maintenance of the bullet train to India.