Finally, Rs 7,000 cr funds allocated for bullet train

Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed train project

For the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed bullet train corridor, a provision of Rs 7,000 crore has been allocated in the Union budget 2018. The Finance ministry has allocated the amount for this project, which until now only remained on paper. The total cost for this 504-kilometres long bullet train is almost Rs 1 lakh crore.

A senior railway official said last year there was no allocation in the budget for this project and it is being looked after by High-Speed Rail Corporation. “The Bullet train is expected to cut travel time between the two cities from seven hours to close to three hours. It would be running at speeds of 350 kmph with an average speed of 320 kmph. It will stop at 12 railway stations on the route but only for two minutes,” added official.

Budget documents released by the railway ministry on Tuesday show that Rs7,000 crore has been allocated for the bullet train project through “extra-budgetary resources”.

It is expected to be connected with the metro rail and it will begin from Bandra Kurla Complex. It will have a 21-km-long tunnel between Boisar and BKC, of which seven km will be underwater. The railways will require around 825 hectares of land for the project as 92 percent of the route will be elevated, six percent would go through tunnels and only the remaining two percent would be on the ground.

Last year in September Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between India and Japan for this big-ticket project for which Japanese government is providing a loan at a minimal interest of 0.1 percent.

The bullet train is expected to cover the 504-km distance between the two cities in less than three hours. The Indian Railways is planning to complete the project by 2022.