Bullet train extremely essential for country: Railway Board chief

Describing the bullet train as an “extremely essential” for India, Railway Board chairman (CRB) Ashwani Lohani on Monday said that the public transporter looked at it as a project that would unleash technology-driven transportation in the country.

Lohani said the augmentation of the bullet train will provide a standard to the commuters and its development is extremely important. “It is very essential to run the bullet train as we want to commission a medium of rapid transport which can run at par with air travel so far as the speed is concerned," added Lohani.

The meeting with the general managers of the Central Railway, Western Railway and MRVC officials was held in order to discuss the projects which is been underway. “We had discussion with MRVC regarding capacity enhancement works under Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP), particularly Diva-Thane and Kurla-Parel 5th and 6th lines. The work of the Diva-Thane will be completed in the given target,” Lohani added.

He also reviewed all the upcoming projects which has been undertaken by the suburban railway and the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC). “Our team is not only working on bullet train, but his entire team is working hard to complete the big ticket size projects like CSMT-Panvel corridors among others.

Meanwhile, DK Sharma, the general manager of the CR clarified that ‘One Rupee Clinics’ were shut as they were flouting the norms of the agreements for which they had sent notices to follow the terms and conditions of the agreement. “We gave several notices to the contractor but he failed to comply. Now, we are going to review what else can be done or what course correction would be required to restart such facility,” Sharma said.