Work on bullet train may begin next year

Construction on the Indian Railway’s Mumbai-ahmedabad high-speed rail project is likely to start in 2017, Mohd Jamshed, member (traffic) of Railway Board, said during his visit to the city on Tuesday.

Jamshed further stated that as of now, there are no plans to revise the suburban train fare in the 2017-18 budget. “We have no plans to revise the suburban fares as of now,” said Jamshed.

The Mumbai-ahmedabad bullet train, which will be the first of its kind in India, is a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The bullet train is expected to

and Ahmedabad in about two hours, running at a maximum speed of 350 kmph and operating at a speed of 320 kmph.

For frequent travellers to Guj and traders, this could mean a faster mode of transport. Currently, the train travel takes 7 hours between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, which is likely to be halved, once the project is completed.

“The work on Mumbai-ahmedabad bullet train should start next year. The project is already being monitored at the highest level. There is a supervisory committee consisting chairman railway board (CRB), National Institution Transforming India (NITI) Aayog and other government secretaries,” said Jamshed.

Jamshed was in the city for a half-yearly meeting with chief commercial managers (CCM) from all 16 zones of Indian rail sector undertakings (PSUS).

Various aspects like improvement in passenger amenities, improving passenger journey experience, redevelopment of stations and increasing the nonfare box revenue was discussed in the day-long meeting.

On the redevelopment of stations and increasing non-fare box revenue, the senior official said that a uniform policy is being finalised at railway board.

Over 400 A1 and A category stations are selected by the union government for redevelopment. Eight city stations including Bombay Central, Bandra terminus, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus , Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Kalyan Dadar Thane and Pan