Abe launches first bullet train project; 15 agreements signed
GIANT STEP: The 508-kilometre rail link is between Ahmedabad and Mumbai
NEW DELHI: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday launched work on India’s first high-speed train, following which the countries signed 15 pacts to boost bilateral ties.
Abe, who arrived in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat on Wednesday to a grand welcome, held talks with the Indian leader at the 12th India-Japan annual summit.
The two sides signed agreements covering science and technology, investment promotion, disaster management and civil aviation cooperation after the discussions.
Hours earlier, Abe along with Modi launched ground-breaking work for the bullet train network, being built with financial assistance from Japan.
“This is not just the start of a highspeed rail... Keeping in mind our needs in the future, I consider it to be a lifeline in the building of a new India,” Modi told reporters alongside Abe.
“A strong India is good for Japan and a strong Japan is good for India,” Abe had said at the function, attended by a crowd of 10,000 people.
The 508-kilometre rail link between Ahmedabad, the main city in Gujarat and India’s financial capital Mumbai, is scheduled to be completed by 2023. The project costs Rs1.1 trillion. Japan will fund 81 per cent of the outlay in soft loans, at an interest rate of 0.1 per cent. The loan will have to be repaid over 50 years.
Modi defended the project, saying it would provide a big boost to India’s employment and growth, adding that the project was a gift from Japan to India given the concessional terms.
The new train will carry 750 passengers, is expected to run at an average speed of 250 kilometres per hour, with a top speed of around 320 kilometre per hour, double the top speed of the fastest train in India. The travel time between the cities will be reduced from eight hours to around three.
Underlining growing business and trade ties, Modi said Japan had emerged as India’s third largest investor with an investment of $14.7 billion in the last financial year, a jump of 80 per cent from the previous year.
The two sides also discussed progress in a bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation agreement that came into force in July and ways to bolster defence and security ties, Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said.
The Japanese leader’s visit and the launch of the projects are seen as sym- bolic of the growing ties between New Delhi and Tokyo amid China’s growing assertiveness in the region.
On Thursday, Abe also pitched for widening strategic partnership and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, along with stronger ties with US.
Abe also called on the international community to strictly implement UN Security Council’s sanctions on North Korea over its latest nuclear test, to force a change in Pyongyang’s policies.
During the visit, Abe and Modi were also to inaugurate a Japanese industrial park. Abe was also scheduled to participate in an India-Japan business meeting later, before concluding his India tour and flying back to Tokyo.