21.7.15

Bullet Train update

The proposed Mumbai- Ahmedabad high-speed corridor is estimated to cost Rs.98,805 crore and the one-way fare will work out to about Rs.2,800, about one-and-a-half times the cost of a first-class ticket of Rajdhani Express on the same route--Rs.1,920.
According to the final feasibility report submitted to railways by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), bullet trains on the 505-km route will achieve a maximum speed of 350 kmph, cutting travel time to 2 hours from more than seven hours it takes now.
The bullet train is a pet project of PM Narendra Modi. If work begins on the project by 2017, the corridor can be completed in 2023 and trains can be run in 2024. The railways will now examine Jica's report and decide on the course of action. A cabinet note seeking approval for the project is likely to be prepared next month, a railway official said.
Jica has suggested that the line be built on the internationally accepted “standard gauge“, though some sections of the railways want it to be “broad gauge,“ on which most of India's main-line trains run.The report states that high-speed trains of 300 kmph and above run on standard gauge world over. The Japan government has offered low-interest funds for the project, an official said. But the offer comes with the rider that 30% of the rolling stock be sourced from Japanese firms. SNCF of France has already carried out a separate feasibility study of the route and submitted the business model to the ministry .

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