According to the Times of India, Indian Railways is very confident that in Gujarat, the country’s first bullet train will begin operation in June-July 2026. By the end of the month, India will seal the deal to get the first six Shinkansen (bullet) trains from Japan.
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First stretch of Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed train ready by 2026: Ashwini Vaishnaw
Also, as per the report, by August 15, 2024, the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) will bid out all contracts, including the one on the procurement of trains and operating systems.
India’s first bullet train project will connect the cities of Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and construction work is currently taking place.
There is more progress in Gujarat than in Maharashtra
Officials said, that till January 2024, the project’s overall physical progress stood at around 40% and added that the progress is more in Gujarat (48.3%) than in Maharashtra (22.5%).
According to a railway ministry official, in recent months, there has been extraordinary progress in Maharashtra. The state administration has directed all district collectors to complete the handover of the land by the end of this month. We are working hard to see how we can push the physical progress to compensate for the time we lost because of the previous Maharashtra government.
Limited-stop and all-stop services
The 508-km-long Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor will have services that will stop only at a limited number of stations and all stops. While the limited-stop services will complete the journey in just two hours, the all-stop counterparts will take around forty-five additional minutes to reach their destination.
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Furthermore, over the past few years, six river bridges have been built and more than 100 km of the viaduct (elevated stretch) has been completed in the corridor. The route’s Gujarat portion has 20 bridges, of which as many as seven have been built.
