PM Narendra Modi launches bullet train from 'aapnu Amdavad to aamchi Mumbai'

AHMEDABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe laid the foundation stone for a high-speed rail link between Ahmedabad and Mumbai that will see bullet trains running at 320 km per hour, slashing travel time and marking a quantum leap in rail technology for India.

The high-speed train corridor will also boost economic growth by giving an impetus to the industrial sector while creating more jobs, the Indian prime minister said. “For any country’s holistic development, an advanced transport system plays a major role. This bullet train project will cut down the travel time between two cities to less than three hours,” he said.

The rail corridor aims to reduce the 508-km journey between Mumbai and Ahmedabad to about 2.07 hours from about seven now. The deadline for completion of the project is 2023, but Modi said the government will try to launch the service a year earlier, when India celebrates 75 years of independence.

“Prime Minister Modi is a far-sighted leader. Two years ago, he decided to bring highspeed railways to India. We have committed to help India to realise its vision,” said Abe.

Shinkansen Technology
“High-speed railways transformed our economy and made Japan a developed nation. It would do the same for India,” said Abe.

The corridor will use Japanese Shinkansen technology, which will be transferred to India under an agreement the two nations have signed. Of the 508-km stretch, 468 km of track will be elevated, 27 km inside tunnels and the remaining 13 km on the surface. About 7 km will be undersea. The project will need at least 800 hectares of land. The Rs 1.8-lakh crore rail network project will receive a loan of Rs 88,000 crore from Japan at an interest rate of 0.1% and a repayment period of 50 years. The project is being undertaken by the National High-Speed Rail Corp. Railway minister Piyush Goyal, Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis were also present at the event. Goyal said India will be offering the world’s most affordable bullet train services to its citizens.

Abe said Japan has the safest rail network in the world and it will help India with all technical assistance to make Indian Railways safer.

“Over 100 Japanese engineers are working in India for the project. Kawasaki of Japan and BHEL of India will produce rolling stock for the bullet train project,” he said. “I hope to enjoy the beauty of India through the windows of the bullet train when I come to India in a few years.” Both Abe and Modi said the project will give a big boost to the Make in India initiative. “We were able to get this project off the ground so quickly and the credit for that goes to Prime Minister Abe. He took a personal interest in it to ensure there are no delays or difficulties,” said Modi. “In the US, after its rail network grew, it underwent a massive phase of growth that has lasted since. Similarly, in Japan, when the Shinkansen started in 1964, it changed the face of Japan and took it on a high-growth trajectory.”

Apart from economic and cultural growth, the bullet train project will boost Make in India. “For this high-speed rail project, the technology may well be coming from Japan, but the moving parts, the manufacturing will all be from India,” Modi said.

Abe said Japan is making a special commitment to give manufacturing a boost in India. “Japan is committed to the scheme of Make in India. Our industries are working with India to give a boost to manufacturing in India,” he said.

Both leaders also laid the foundation stone for an institute in Vadodara where about 4,000 people will be trained for the bullet train project. The two leaders pledged to grow their friendship and make the India-Japan partnership a globally strategic and relevant one.

“This project exemplifies a new India and is an expression of its dreams. Its flight is limitless, its aspirations infinite. It’s an India that is flying high,” Modi said, thanking Abe and Japan and calling the bullet train project a gift from that country. If the two countries worked together, nothing was impossible, Abe said. “I would like to state that India-Japan partnership is special, strategic and global,” he said.