NEW DELHI: Japanese funding agency JICA has inked a tripartite consultancy pact with Railway Ministry and National High Speed Rail Corporation for the high-speed railway project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad JICA promotes smooth implementation of the Mumbai- Ahmedabad High Speed Railway Project by signing the Memorandum for General Consultancy, the funding agency said in a statement."The GC is to provide design and bidding assistance for the public works and systems required for the construction of a high-speed railway linking two cities Mumbai and Ahmedabad in India , which was agreed to at the Japan-India Summit Meeting held in December 2015," JICA said in a statement.JICA will bear the cost of GC up to 2020 and will contribute to the smooth implementation of the High Speed Railway Project, it said. NHSRC ), a new agency, in charge of the implementation of the project is a joint-venture between Japan International Consultants for Transportation Co (JIC), Nippon Koei Co and Oriental Consultants Global Co. Ltd.The joint-venture is tasked to implement the General Consultancy of the project.JICA said the signing of the pact confirms methodology of the GC work by the three parties under the agreement.The MoU marks an important step toward actual project implementation and the GC work has been fully mobilised and moving forward following the contract signing between JICA and the joint-venture on December 9, JICA said further.The high speed railway line between the two prominent cities in Western India is expected to cover 508 km in about two hours, running at a maximum speed of 350 kmph and operating speed of 320 kmph.Estimated to cost about Rs 97,636 crore, 81 per cent of the funding for the project will come by way of a loan from Japan.While most part of the corridor is proposed to be on the elevated track, there will be a stretch after Thane creek towards Virar which will go under the sea as per the detailed project report by JICA.