Gujarat to Mumbai 217mph train will cut journey time from eight hours to three and is funded with low-interest Japanese loan

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

India’s creaking, colonial-era railway system is preparing to take a giant leap forward as the Indian prime minister breaks ground on the country’s first bullet train project.



Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the high-speed line on Thursday during a visit by his Japanese counterpart, Shinzō Abe, to the western state of Gujarat.



“This is the new India and the flight of its dreams is endless,” Modi said at the ceremony. “The bullet train project will bring speed and employment. It is human-friendly and eco-friendly.”

The high-speed line, which the government aims to launch by the 75th anniversary of Indian independence on 15 August 2022, will run from Ahmedabad, the Gujarat capital, to the financial hub of Mumbai.



Indian officials say the train will have a maximum speed of 217mph (350km/h), more than twice the speed of the country’s current fastest train, which runs from the capital, Delhi, to Agra at a comparably sluggish maximum of 100mph.

The Shinkansen model train will cut the 316-mile journey from Ahmedabad to Mumbai from eight hours to around three.

More than four-fifths of the project’s $19bn (£14.4bn) cost will be funded by a 0.1% interest-rate loan from Japan as part of a deepening economic relationship that both countries hope will act as a bulwark against Chinese influence in Asia. “Japan has shown that its a true friend of India,” Modi said on Thursday.

The fast rail is also significant for the Modi government, which made the bullet train a key part of the modernisation agenda on which it campaigned at the 2014 elections. It also claims the project will create about 36,000 jobs.

India is reportedly considering another six potential high-speed rail corridors, including one connecting Mumbai and Delhi. But the former chairman of India’s railway board Vivek Sahai said that the financial investment required to build such fast rail meant it was unlikely to phase out traditional trains any time soon.



“India runs more than 10,000 trains each day, which carry the equivalent of the population of Australia – you can’t just discontinue them,” Sahai said.

The country might also find it cheaper to invest in medium-speed trains that could run on the existing system, he added, rather than paying for the special infrastructure required to run bullet trains.

The spread of super-fast trains would ultimately “depend on the finances”, he said. “High speed trains have to come to India ... but how to get it and the financial viability of the projects is still to be questioned,” he said.



Trains are still the preferred choice of long-distance travel for most Indians but passenger numbers, particularly in the more expensive berths, have started to decline since 2014.

Growing incomes in the past three decades have seen a surge in car ownership, and India’s domestic flight market grew 14% last year, second only to China’s.

The industry is also marred by a horrendous safety record: a 2012 government report referred to the annual death toll from the country railway’s system as a “massacre”.

More than 33,700 people died in train-related accidents in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available, the majority by falling from overcrowded trains or being hit as they tried to cross tracks.



Modi replaced the country’s railway minister in August after a horror 12 months that included an accident last November that killed 150 people.



The government has committed to spending $137bn (£111bn) over its five-year term to upgrade India’s railways, including improving track structure and introducing long welded rails and track patrols to prevent railway infrastructure from falling into disrepair.

India’s train network, built during British colonial rule is Asia’s oldest and the fourth-longest in the world, covering more than 67,000km.

</s>New Delhi/Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on Thursday launched the country's first bullet-train project, making India the first country to buy Japan's iconic 'Shinkansen' bullet-train technology after Taiwan.

Taipei was the first to buy Japan's bullet-train technology.

Tokyo has also agreed to give a loan of Rs 88,000 crore, about 80 percent of the project cost, at a minimal interest of 0.1 per cent for 50 years.

Japan's entry into the Indian bullet-train market marks its hard-fought victory in the midsts of giants like Siemens AG, Bombardier Inc., and Alstom competing in a global market, NDTV reported citing BCC Research.

"The competition between China and Japan, especially in the ASEAN region, has been fairly intense and in India, there will be more competition for other phases of the bullet train project," the channel quoted Jaideep Ghosh, head of the consultancy firm KPMG, as saying.

"Japan has a long history of operating the system without any fatalities. Politics and strategic considerations do play a part, but finally it is a commercial decision," he added.

The bullet train project is PM Modi's ambitious plan to modernize rail infrastructure. Kawasaki Heavy and India's Bharat Heavy Electrics Ltd. will collaborate on the rolling stock, Abe said.

Bharat Heavy reportedly rose to 10.2 percent, the biggest intraday gain in a year.

The government hopes the project would spur manufacturing and employment growth. Besides an estimated 4,000 direct and 20,000 indirect jobs for operations, the project is also expected to create 20,000 construction jobs.

Indian companies are also looking forward to bagging a few contracts.

"We may be getting the technology from Japan, but most of the components for the bullet train will be sourced from India," PM Modi said.

India's first bullet train will run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, covering a distance of over 500 km. Of the total distance, 21 km will pass through tunnels, of which seven km will be under the sea.

The official target for the completion of the project is 2023.

The bullet train will run at an average speed of 320 km per hour with a maximum speed of 350 km per hour. It is expected to cover the distance in about two hours.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has assured that the fare would be "affordable for all".</s>Japan’s government and its rail companies lobbied the US for years to sell their bullet-train technology and found little success. Finally, there’s an international buyer: India.

The South Asian country is poised to become the first to import the iconic ‘Shinkansen’ bullet-train technology after Japan’s near-neighbor Taiwan, and that will be a highlight of India’s infrastructure upgrade program. The Japanese government has also agreed to fund most of the $17 billion needed for the project that will become part of Asia’s oldest railway network.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan’s Shinzo Abe formally kicked off a plan to build the 316-mile bullet train line — roughly the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Financing by Japan also means business farmed out to companies such as Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., Hitachi Ltd. and East Japan Railway Co. and an opportunity lost for China’s CRRC Corp Ltd. and European manufacturers including Alstom SA.

For Japan, which is locked in a strategic rivalry with China for commercial contracts abroad, the Indian project marks a hard-fought victory as companies including Siemens AG, Bombardier Inc., Alstom and, lately, CRRC compete in a global market projected by BCC Research to be worth about $133 billion by 2019. After building the world’s largest high-speed network since the start of the century, covering 80 percent of its major cities, China has been raising its profile.

“The competition between China and Japan, especially in the ASEAN region, has been fairly intense and in India, there will be more competition for other phases of the bullet train project,” said Jaideep Ghosh, partner and head of transport at consultancy KPMG. “Japan has a longer history of operating the system without any fatalities. Politics and strategic considerations do play a part, but finally it is a commercial decision.”

India isn’t the only country in Asia that is offering potential in high-speed rail. China outbid Japan to win a $5.5 billion project in Indonesia in 2015, while the two countries are poised for a face-off again over a proposed Singapore-Kuala Lumpur link scheduled for completion by 2026.

President Donald Trump campaigned for improving infrastructure during elections. In February, ahead of a meeting with Abe, Trump even talked about high-speed railway lines. Trump told airline bosses that Japan and China “have fast trains all over the place. We don’t have one,” according to a transcript of a meeting he had with airline chiefs.

In 2010, Japan had offered to build high-speed rail in California as part of a $40 billion project after discussions with then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 2014, Abe said his government may provide financing to support Central Japan Railway Co.’s bid to provide maglev trains for a Washington-Baltimore line.

A bullet train on Indian soil is part of Modi’s ambitious plan to modernize rail infrastructure after decades of underinvestment. He is pouring as much as 8.6 trillion rupees ($134 billion) to upgrade the congested and aging lines that daily carry the equivalent of Australia’s population. The network was started under British colonial rule 164 years ago.

Modi and Abe unveiled a plaque at Sabarmati in Gujarat to mark the inauguration of the project linking the financial capital of Mumbai with the economic hub of Ahmedabad. The Japanese government is financing 81 percent of the cost, with a $13.8 billion soft yen-loan carrying an interest rate of 0.1 percent.

Kawasaki Heavy and India’s Bharat Heavy Electrics Ltd. will collaborate on the rolling stock, Abe said Thursday at the event. Bharat Heavy rose as much as 10.2 percent in Mumbai, the biggest intraday gain in a year.

Modi is also counting on the project to spur a manufacturing and employment boom. His government says it will create 20,000 construction jobs, apart from 4,000 direct and 20,000 indirect jobs for operations. Local companies such as Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Gammon India Ltd. and GMR Infrastructure Ltd. are also looking to win some of the contracts.

“We may be getting the technology from Japan, but most of the components for the bullet train will be sourced from India,” Modi said in a speech at the event. “That’s why our industry will have to manufacture world-class equipment, supply them on time, focus on zero-defect manufacturing.”

Japan has pitched quality as the primary selling point to India — a network that boasts zero fatal accidents in its more than half-century of history. Japan’s relatively high initial costs can be offset by lower repair expenses over a lifespan of decades, Japanese officials have said.

“We will work closely with the Japanese government and JR East to actively respond to the introduction of the Shinkansen system to India,” Hitachi spokesman Tatsuya Moriki said. JR East would like to contribute to the success of the project, spokesman Kengo Shikanai said.

A representative for CRRC didn’t respond to a request for comments, while an Alstom spokeswoman declined to comment.

India is reviewing prospects for at least six more potential bullet-train corridors, including one that would connect Mumbai to New Delhi, although no decision has been taken. India has said it is in talks with Japan and other countries for those projects.

For all the latest Business News, download Indian Express App</s>Any unprecedented development always begins with a shock. When Kolkata had the country's first underground metro in 1984, none other than a member of the then ruling Left in West Bengal had feared that the tunnels could get waterlogged during excess rainfall, paving way for disaster. On Thursday, September 14, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said that when the Rajdhani Express had been introduced in the late 1960s, many had criticised it but later wanted to travel in it. Time is afterall, money.

The problem with the Indian mindset is that it fears the magnitude. The bullet train is something which he still relate with the developed countries and societies and invariably feel what about the poor in the country. On occasions like these, we tend to turn socialistic with a pseudo sympathy for the poor. But that is a misdirected thought. Not all developed countries were developed from Day 1 and had put in a lot of hard work to reach where they are today. The economic standards of their people have also improved over the days and one of the best means to achieve this improvement is by upgrading transportation.

After Suzuki, Shinkansen: Japan does India a favour again

Japan's contribution towards revolutionising India's automobile sector is unforgettable. In the early and mid 1980s, it was Japan's Suzuki which had changed this country's taste for automobiles for ever. From the dull and monotonous days of the Ambassadors and Fiats, Maruti Suzuki had proved to be the game changer and it has still held its position in the Indian automobile industry. Three decades later, it is again Japan which is backing India's efforts – this time to revolutionise its railway sector by helping it acquire the Shinkansen bullet train. The story of India's age-old railways will be changed forever once the high-speed railway project becomes a reality.

True, the foundation stone of the bullet train is being laid at a time when the country is witnessing regular train mishaps. Even on the day of the bullet train's inauguration, the Jammu Rajdhani got derailed at New Delhi Railway Station and critics were of the opinion that the government is aiming high for the bullet trains when it can't run the ordinary ones.

The journey of the Indian Railways is doomed anyways. The behemoth has been so over-burdened and underfed that one day or the other, it is bound to collapse under its own weight. The government can't really turn the existing railway system into an effective, fast-paced and less-burdened one quickly since years of ill-conceived exercises have left it seriously crippled.

The infrastructure is in shambles, the culture of subsidy and the imbalanced competition with the airways have left it badly hurt while corruption is still to be weeded out completely. Cleaning up this entire mess is time consuming and yet there is no surety that things will fall in place. In these circumstances, laying the first groundwork for the bullet train gives hope to Indian Railways.

The biggest benefit that the bullet train offers is the speed. In today's times when the snail-paced railways is losing the battle outright against the air carriers, the bullet trains will restore some credibility by enhancing the speed. In a big country like India and in this age of business, trains need to be fast enough to keep pace. This way, the bullet train can prove to be a bog game changer.

The second benefit of the bullet train is that it will open new job opportunities for Indians since the sector is completely fresh. And instead of turning it into an overburdened sector like the railways, emphasis on quality and expertise can see it turning into a high-priority service sector, eventually helping our economy.

A third significance of the bullet train is international. Through the realisation of this high-profile project, India will cement its strategic bonding with Japan to put up a joint competition against China. Japan's bagging the bullet train project in India at a time when it is having a serious competition with the Chinese over high-speed trains in Asia will hurt Beijing's superiority complex no doubt no matter how much it says that it is "pleased" with the development or that India-Japan ties do not really pose a threat to it.

As one of the fastest developing economies in the world, India's acquiring bullet trains will help its image as well as economic fortunes on the ground. New Delhi can make use of the bullet train project once it deepens its network in the country by integrating other South Asian neighbours, boosting the feeling of fraternity in the region.

For the critics, there is no point in equating the bullet train with issues like demonetisation or Hindutva and treat it as a 'negative' thing to have happened in the years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For an emerging economy, bullet trains are not something bad to happen and we need to put our thoughts in the right perspective.</s>New Delhi/Tokyo — Japan’s government and its rail companies lobbied the US for years to sell its bullet-train technology and found little success. Finally, there’s an international buyer: India.

The South Asian country is poised to become the first nation to import the iconic "Shinkansen" bullet trains, which will be a highlight of India’s infrastructure upgrade programme. The Japanese government has also agreed to fund most of the $17bn needed for the project that will become part of Asia’s oldest railway network. Japan had previously given its super-fast train technology only to Taiwan.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan’s Shinzo Abe will formally kick off a plan to build the 505km bullet train line — roughly the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Financing by Japan also means business farmed out to companies such as Hitachi and East Japan Railway — and an opportunity lost for China’s CRRC Corporation and European manufacturers, including Alstom.

For Japan, which is locked in a strategic rivalry with China for commercial contracts abroad, the Indian project marks a hard-fought victory as they compete against Siemens, Bombardier, Alstom and, lately, CRRC in a global market projected by BCC Research to be worth about $133bn by 2019. After building the world’s largest high-speed network since the start of the century, covering 80% of its major cities, China has been raising its profile.

"The competition between China and Japan, especially in the Asean region, has been fairly intense and in India there will be more competition for other phases of the bullet train project," said Jaideep Ghosh, partner and head of transport at consultancy KPMG. "Japan has a longer history of operating the system without any fatalities. Politics and strategic considerations do play a part, but finally it is a commercial decision."

India isn’t the only country in Asia that is offering potential in high-speed rail. China outbid Japan to win a $5.5bn project in Indonesia in 2015, while the two countries are poised for another face-off over a proposed Singapore-Kuala Lumpur link scheduled for completion by 2026.

US President Donald Trump campaigned for improving infrastructure; in February, ahead of a meeting with Abe, Trump even talked about high-speed railway lines. Trump told airline bosses that Japan and China "have fast trains all over the place. We don’t have one", according to a transcript of a meeting he had with airline chiefs.

In 2010, Japan offered to build high-speed rail in California as part of a $40bn project after discussions with then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 2014, Abe said his government may provide financing to support Central Japan Railway’s bid to provide maglev (magnetic levitation) trains for a Washington-Baltimore line.

A bullet train on Indian soil is part of Modi’s ambitious plan to modernise rail infrastructure after decades of under-investment. He is pouring as much as 8.6-trillion rupees ($134bn) to upgrade the congested and aging lines that daily carry the equivalent of Australia’s population. Asia’s oldest network was started under British colonial rule 164 years ago.

Modi is also counting on the project to spur a manufacturing and employment boom. His government says it will create 20,000 construction jobs, apart from 4,000 direct and 20,000 indirect jobs for operations. Local companies, such as Larsen & Toubro, Gammon India and GMR Infrastructure are also looking to win some of the contracts.

On Thursday, Modi and Abe will unveil a plaque at Sabarmati in Gujarat to mark the inauguration of the project linking the financial capital of Mumbai with the economic hub of Ahmedabad. The Japanese government is financing 81% of the cost, with a $13.8bn soft yen-loan carrying an interest rate of 0.1%.

Japan has pitched quality as the primary selling point to India — a network that boasts zero fatal accidents in its more than half-century of history. Japan’s relatively high initial costs can be offset by lower repair expenses over a lifespan of decades, Japanese officials have said.

"We will work closely with the Japanese government and JR East to actively respond to the introduction of the Shinkansen system to India," Hitachi spokesperson Tatsuya Moriki said, adding that chairperson Hiroaki Nakanishi will attend the function in India. JR East would like to contribute to the success of the project, spokesperson Kengo Shikanai said, and JR East president Tetsuro Tomita will also attend the function.

Representatives for CRRC and Alstom didn’t respond to requests for comments. Alstom spokesperson Shilpashree M declined to comment.

India is reviewing prospects for at least six more bullet-train corridors, including one that would connect Mumbai and New Delhi, although no decision has been taken. India has said it is in talks with Japan and other countries for those projects.</s>Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a ceremony for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail project - AFP

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe laid the foundation stone of a £14.4bn high-speed train project in his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi’s western home state of Gujarat on Thursday.

Funded largely by a loan from Japan, the bullet train is expected to reduce the time of the 310-mile long journey between Gujarat’s largest town of Ahmedabad and the port city of Mumbai to less than three hours, which currently takes eight.

The 750-seat train travels at a speed of 217mph, more than twice the maximum speed of any Indian Rail locomotive, is scheduled to run from mid-August 2022 to mark the country’s 75th Independence Day anniversary.

Indian Rail officials said the major portion of the train’s route would be elevated, except for a 4.3 mile stretch under the sea.

“This enterprise will launch a revolution in Indian railways and speed up India’s journey into the future” Mr Modi said, adding that it will be an engine of economic transformation for the country.

But political allies of Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), opposition leaders, analysts and economists strongly disagree.

They question the necessity of the bullet train project at a time when money is desperately needed for other projects that have been starved of resources.

“We are getting a bullet train without asking for it and do not know exactly what problems this will solve,” said the Shiv Sena, the BJP’s ultra Right-Wing ally in the federal government, that politically controls Mumbai.

“Modi’s dream is not of the common man, but of the rich” the party declared, adding the bullet train is being introduced at the cost of the cash-strapped and broken down local rail network.

Founded by the Colonial administration in 1853, Indian Railway is the world’s third largest network and transports 23 million people every day.

Currently, however, it is broke due to decades-long recurring losses spawned by inefficiency and corruption.

Senior officials admit Indian Railway barely has enough money to pay for itself, let alone invest in modernisation and safety measures, resulting in frequent accidents.

The federal Railway Ministry recently told parliament that over 800 people had died in around 450 accidents between 2013 and 2017 due to poor maintenance, outdated rolling stock, corroded rail lines and bridges dating back to colonial times.

Roughly 15,000 people a year were run over by speeding trains while crossing rail tracks, and around 3,000 of them were hit on Mumbai’s busy suburban network, which transports over seven million commuters.

“The big question that will not go away, is whether the same investment on upgrading the entire Indian Railway network would be more economically beneficial, than a single, high cost bullet train project," said economic and political analyst Mohan Guruswamy.</s>Speaking at the inauguration of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India has taken an important step towards fulfilling an old dream. Describing the project as human-friendly and eco-friendly, he added that the project will generate employment and ensure high speed transportation in the country. Modi, along with Japan PM Shinzo Abe, who arrived in India on Wednesday, laid the foundation stone for the bullet train project in Ahmedabad.

Thanking Japan and Abe for contributing towards the development of the bullet train project, Modi said, “Japan has shown that it is a true friend of India. Japan has given India a loan of Rs 88,000 crore at 0.1 per cent interest for the construction of the high speed bullet train network.

“The next generation growth will take place in places which have high-speed corridors,” Modi said. “The transport system plays an important role in ensuring connectivity in the country. People of the country will make use of this connectivity in several ways.”

Abe, who also spoke during the event, said if India and Japan work together, nothing is impossible. “PM Modi is a far-sighted leader, he made a decision of making New India and chose Japan as partner. We completely support it,” he said. “Japan is committed to the scheme of ‘Make in India’.” Over 100 Japanese workers have come to India to assist in the project.

Also read | The bullet train route, mostly overhead, a stretch undersea

The bullet train which will cover a distance of 508 kilometres long, will run between Sabarmati Railway Station and Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. A ticket for the train will cost between Rs 2,700 and Rs 3,000 — by air, travelling the same distance costs Rs 3,500-4,000.

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App</s>Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe laid the foundation stone of a £14.4bn high-speed train project in his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi’s western home state of Gujarat on Thursday.

Funded largely by a loan from Japan, the bullet train is expected to reduce the time of the 310-mile long journey between Gujarat’s largest town of Ahmedabad and the port city of Mumbai to less than three hours, which currently takes eight.

The 750-seat train travels at a speed of 217mph, more than twice the maximum speed of any Indian Rail locomotive, is scheduled to run from mid-August 2022 to mark the country’s 75th Independence Day anniversary.

Indian Rail officials said the major portion of the train’s route would be elevated, except for a 4.3 mile stretch under the sea.</s>The Shiv Sena on Friday continued its attack on India and Japan's joint venture of bullet train. In the editorial of its mouthpiece, Saamna, the party said that if Indian railways had taken lessons from Japan on the safety formula of its railway system, the country would have been happier.

The latest attack comes in the wake of derailment of the Jammu Rajdhani Express, one of India's premiere trains. The incident happened on Thursday, the same day when foundation was laid for the bullet train by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

Juxtaposing the introduction of bullet train with the derailment of the Rajdhani Express, the Shiv Sena drew the point of Indian railway's misplaced priority.

"Japan has been running bullet trains since 1964, and that too at the speed of 500 to 600 km per hour," said the editorial and added that the important point here is that why there have been no accidents in Japan despite trains running at such speed.

The bullet trains in Japan get cleaned in mere seven minutes, and it gets ready to run again. Moreover, a delay of even one minute is questioned, claimed Saamna.

On the other hand, the party said that the Indian trains already running at low speed get derailed, but no one is held answerable for the same.

"Hence, the major question is why shouldn't the strategy of Japan's guarantee of rail safety be learned, and why shouldn't its formula of clean and safe travel be adopted?" the editorial questioned.

"Today, if the government had instead learned the technology of Japan's rail safety measures, then the country would have been happier," it further said.

The editorial concluded by adding, "The Rajdhani Express is India's current bullet train. At least, save it."</s>Mumbai: With the pompous inauguration of the 508-km Mumbai to Ahmedabad bullet train project, India became the second country, to import the Japanese 'Shinkansen' bullet-train technology which has been lobbying for a buyer for long.

At a time when Japan and China are locked in an intense rivalry for providing this technology to countries around the world, Japan’s Rs 88,000 crore-soft loan to India will cement a long-standing friendship between the two countries. Abe, in his address at the inauguration ceremony in Ahmedabad on Thursday emphasized on the “special bond” between the two countries” and Modi thanked him saying Japan’s loan was a “gift” to India.

Japan’s victory in securing the Indian contract must been seen against the edgy competition from Siemens AG, Bombardier Inc., Alstom and, more recently, the Chinese CRRC in a global market worth USD 133 billion by 2019, according to a BCC Research.

"The competition between China and Japan, especially in the ASEAN region, has been fairly intense and in India, there will be more competition for other phases of the bullet train project," said Jaideep Ghosh, partner and head of transport at consultancy KPMG told Bloomberg.

The financing by Japan would also bring in business for Japanese firms like Hitachi Ltd. and East Japan Railway Co. – a blow for CRRC and European companies including Alstom SA.

Also, India is not the only buyer of this bullet-train technology. China won a USD 5.5 billion project in Indonesia in 2015 and is currently vying with Japan for a Singapore-Kuala Lumpur link.

US President Donald Trump had also called for introduction of high-speed rail technology in his country, a technology he said is “all over the place” in Japan and China.

According to a report in Bloomberg, in 2014, Japan’s government had offered its technology to the then California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, as part of a USD 40 billion project. In 2014, the Japanese prime minister had said his government may partially finance the Central Japan Railway Co.'s maglev trains for a Washington-Baltimore line.

The Japanese team estimated that the first train would roll out by 2023, but Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said PM Modi wants the train to start on 15 August 2022 - when India completes 75 years of Independence. The loan to Japan will have to be repaid over 50 years.

The high-speed train, with a capacity to accommodate 750 people, is expected to slash travel time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad from seven to three hours.

Amidst criticism from the Opposition that this national project is being turned into a political one, the Modi government has claimed that it will generate employment for nearly 20,000 people.
Japan agrees to help with the construction of an Indian bullet train.