Gujarat govt proposes 2 more bullet trains

The Gujarat government wants two more bullet trains to run within the state, one of them between Ahmedabad and Dwarka via Rajkot and Jamnagar, while the second would between Rajkot and Veraval via Junagadh. The ‘Blueprint for Infrastructure in Gujarat (BIG) 2020’ released by the CM says that the state government has already sent across proposals for these to the Indian Railways. While the bullet train between Ahmedabad and Dwarka covering 340 km would cost Rs 22,100 crore, the one between Rajkot and Veraval, for 180 km, would cost Rs 11,700 crore, the document estimates. These two proposals are over and above the bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, for Rs 32,500 crore, already taken up by the Indian Railways. The latter project’s pre-feasibility report has also been prepared. The document says, the new proposals would be implemented on public-private partnership (PPP) model, with the private player working ‘in coordination with the state government and Indian Railways’. Even as including the two proposals in the list of ‘mega infrastructure projects’ the state government wants to take up and complete by 2020, the document does not clarify why a private player would be interested in the project. Justifying the bullet train proposals, the document says, “While the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) is undoubtedly the key project in Gujarat rail sector, the bullet train corridors are ‘more in the nature of pan-Indian projects’ which could be taken up at the end of the vision period (2020).” The two projects will ‘meet a major transportation need of the people in future and have a major impact in their economies and quality of life, the document adds.