Update: Bullet Trains in India

The design of the station in Thane, Maharashtra, has been reworked by the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) to reduce the number of affected mangroves from the estimated 53,000 to 32,044. The NHSRCL is the main implementing agency of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor. The destroyed mangroves will then be compensated 1:5 (1, 60,000 new mangroves) by the mangroves cell as part of compensatory afforestation in infrastructure projects. The NHSRCL will have to compensate the mangrove cells for this purpose.

Bullet Train Project

• The bullet train or the high-speed rail corridor that would connect Mumbai to Ahmedabad is the pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• The bullet train will pass through the two states of Gujarat and Maharashtra and union territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli. While in Gujarat, 60 per cent land acquisition is complete, in Maharashtra, the project had in the past seen protests.
• The 508-km-long route starts from the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai and ends in Ahmedabad – and the journey is expected to take a little over two hours.
• The project is being majorly funded (not all) through a soft loan by the Japanese Government.
• The Bullet trains will use advanced Japanese Shinkansen E5 Series electric multiple units for its rolling stock.

Any Future Projects planned for High-speed Railways?

Japan has planned to build bullet train projects in Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai & Bengaluru apart from the current project. This development would improve connectivity in the country and increase economic value. However, for a comparatively resource deficient country like India, there is a need to re-evaluate the costs and benefits of such a project.