Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe laid the foundation stone for India’s first bullet train project in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
The government has said the bullet train technology will revolutionise and transform the railways.
Critics, however, say the funds for the bullet train project could have been better utilised to revamp the ailing Indian Railways, which has witnessed various setbacks in the form of derailments and accidents in the past.
Here’s all you need to know about the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project:
Passenger information
The train will have a top speeds of 320-350 km per hour and it is expected to reduce travel time between the two cities to around 2 hours from the existing 7-8 hours. The fares could be in the range of Rs 3000 - Rs 5,000.
Passengers will have two speed options in trains:
• High-speed: It will take 2.58 hours to reach the destination
• Rapid high-speed: It will cover the distance in 2.07 hours.
Commuters and capacity
Initially, each high speed train will have 10 cars and the capacity to accommodate 750 people, The Times of India said. It will increase to 16 cars that will accommodate 1,200 people.
According to initial estimates, around 1.6 crore people are expected to travel by the bullet train annually. By 2050, around 1.6 lakh commuters should travel by the high-speed train on a daily basis.
Stations
On the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route, 12 stations have been proposed: Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad and Sabarmati.
Route
The railways will only require around 825 hectares of land for the project as 92% of the route will be elevated, six per cent will go through tunnels and only the remaining two per cent will be on the ground. India’s longest tunnel -- 21-km-long -- will be dug between Boisar and BKC in Mumbai, 7km of which will be under the sea.
The train tracks will elevated to 18 metres for most of its route to ensure the train runs over the existing railway route. The remaining, less than 40km, stretch will be under sea between Thane and Vasai, and underground in Mumbai, reported The Indian Express.
Project completion
The 508km-long Mumbai to Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) is scheduled for completion in December 2023, but commencement date has been sought to be advanced to August 2022.