Modi, Abe lay foundation for India’s first bullet train
NEWDELHI/AHMEDABAD:PrimeMinisterNarendraModiandhisJapanesecounterpartShinzoAbeon Thursday laid the foundation of India’s first high speed rail project, linking the country’s commercial capital Mumbai to Ahmedabad, the main city in Modi’s home state Gujarat.
The ₹1,10,000-crore project — popularly called the bullet train — aims to modernise the country’scrumblingvastcolonial-era rail networks. Modi said the project will “bring speed with safety” to rail operations besides contributing to economic development in terms of generating jobs. The high speed rail projects constitute a part of the “New India” plan, Modi said, adding that the NDA government’s approach would be to bring “moreproductivitythroughhigh speed connectivity”.
Addressing a huge gathering at the railways’ athletics ground in Sabarmati, Modi said the stretchbetweenthetwocitieswill turnintoasingleeconomiccorridor. Later, in a joint address to themediawithAbeafterthe12th annual bilateral summit, Modi said, “This is not just the start of a high speed rail. Keeping in mind our needs in the future, I believe thisnewrailwayphilosophywill be the lifeline to a new India.”
Thetwoleadersalsolaunched, throughvideoconferencing,construction work for a high speed training institute at Vadodara to traintechniciansinoperatingthe high-speed track technology.
An agreement for the high- speed project, a joint venture between Indian Railways and Japan’sShinkansenTechnology, was first signed in May 2013 by thenPMManmohanSingh,duringhisvisittoTokyo.Theproject, withamaximumdesignspeedof 350km per hour, is scheduled for completion in 2023. “But we will make effortstocomplete ita year in advance so as to coincide its launch with 75 years of India’s Independence,” Modi said.