Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train to be fully operational by 2029: Vaishnaw

The 50-km stretch of India's first bullet train project between Surat and Bilimora in Gujarat will open in 2027, and by 2029, the entire section between Mumbai and Ahmedabad will be operational, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said here on Saturday.

After becoming operational, the bullet train will cover the distance between Mumbai and Ahmedabad in just two hours and seven minutes, he said, stressing that India's first bullet train project is progressing very well.

Vaishnaw visited the under-construction Surat bullet train station and inspected track installation works and its first turnout installation.

"Overall progress of the first bullet train project is very good. The first 50-km section of the project between Surat and Bilimora will be open by 2027. We are preparing for that. By 2028, the entire Thane-Ahmedabad section will be commissioned, and by 2029, the entire Mumbai-Ahmedabad section will open," he told reporters.

Vaishnaw stated that the speed potential of the main line is 320 kmph and 80 kmph for the loop line.

The railway minister stated that the most modern technologies are being utilized to ensure the safe and efficient movement of trains.

"This is a very complex movement of trains, that's why the most modern technologies are being used. Several vibration mechanisms have been created here. The utility cable will take the vibrations whenever the train is moving at 320 kmph," he said.

Even within the tracks, many mechanisms have been put in place to absorb any vibration, he added.

"There are very special safety features on the track so that the train is very stable, even if there is a very heavy gust of wind or a sudden earthquake," said Vaishnaw.

Vaishnaw said the entire heavy work for Surat station is completed, and finishing and utility works are progressing faster along with the track link.

"Today, the first turnout has been installed here in the Surat station on the bullet train project. Turnout is the place where the track either joins or separates. A lot of new technologies have been used here, for example, these roller bearings on which the tracks will move. This is again a totally new technology that we are using. The sleepers are made of composite material," he said.

Vaishnaw said the ambitious bullet train project will turn economies of all major cities from Mumbai to Ahmedabad into one and spur growth like Japan when the first bullet train was introduced.

"We hope to start work on the new projects very soon. In our party's (BJP's) manifesto, we have promised three more corridors in the north, one in the east, and one in the south. Mumbai-Ahmedabad is in the western part of the country. We will have four bullet train corridors as we go forward," he said.