Ahmedabad: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday announced that 360 km of the Bullet Train project has been completed, with significant progress on the Maharashtra section, which had faced delays due to permission issues during the Uddhav Thackeray government’s tenure.
Vaishnaw stated, “The Bullet Train project is progressing well, with 360 km completed and track laying underway… The project aims to create economic hubs along the route, boosting growth in cities like Mumbai, Thane, Vapi, Surat, Vadodara, Anand, and Ahmedabad, effectively interconnecting them as a single economic zone.”
He criticised Uddhav Thackeray alleging that his government delayed the project by two-and-a-half-years. However, he stated, work is now moving at full speed and will greatly benefit future generations.
He said all these cities will see huge economic activities. “A Bullet Train should not be seen just as a transportation project but as a project for the growth of the entire area,” he said.
He said that the Maharashtra section of the Bullet Train project is advancing well, with ‘almost 2 km of the undersea tunnel completed.’
The Railway Minister also highlighted the growth patterns related to the first Bullet Train in Japan between Tokyo and Osaka.
The six big stations between Osaka and Tokyo – Nagoya, Kyoto, Atami, Shinagawa, Shin-Yokohama and Odawara – have become big industrial hubs, he said.
Vaishnaw said similar gains, in terms of growth, will be made on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train corridor.
“In the morning, a person would be able to have a breakfast of fafda-dhokla in Ahmedabad and attend to work in Mumbai during the day before returning home and spending time with kids in Ahmedabad,” he said.
Similarly, a person in Mumbai would begin the day with a breakfast of poha and complete his work in Surat during the day and return to Mumbai to spend time with the family in the evening, he said.
Trains on Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor will operate at a speed of 320 kmph covering a distance of 508km and 12 stations. There will be 35 trains per day/one direction, with a frequency of 20 minutes in peak hours and 30 minutes in non-peak hours.
