Page 48 - 15MAR2020E

Mumbai-Ahmedabad not

the only bullet train project,

six more on the anvil

Most people know that Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor is the only sanctioned
High-Speed Bullet Rail Project that is under execution with technical and financial assistance from
Japan. However, six more similar bullet train projects are on the anvil and the
Ministry of Railways has decided to undertake Detailed Project Report for these
High Speed Rail corridors. A report by sunny sharma

he six new projects for the corridor between Sabarmati and Mum- The technology regarding disaster
introduction of high speed bai (508 kilometre) with 12 stations. predictions and preventions will also
bullet trains are Delhi to Var- be acquired as a part of the project. Such
anasi, Delhi to Ahmedabad, Cutting edge vs catch-up technology safety systems ensure that the train
T Mumbai to Nagpur, Mumbai The bullet train running on this corridor operation safety is maintained in case of
to Hyderabad, Chennai to Mysore and would have a maximum design speed any natural calamity such as earthquake
Delhi to Amritsar. The alignment for of 350 kilometre per hour and operat- etc.
these corridors has yet not been final- ing speed of 320 kilometre per hour. With the presence and availability of
ized, as the DPR study is in progress. The The journey time between Mumbai and this technology, India will be leapfrog
information came to light when the Min- Sabarmati will be 2.07 hrs for a fast train to the cutting edge of latest train devel-
ister of Railways, Commerce & Industry, and 2.58 hrs for train stopping at all the opments with passengers able to reach
Piyush Goyal shared details of six more stations enroute. Unlike other areas, for their destination in 2 hours as against the
projects in a written reply to a question high speed, country is getting a cutting- current 7-8 hours by train.
in Rajya Sabha on March 13. edge technology in totality.
However, for the time being the Mum- The Shinkansen Technology is known Low cost of the project
bai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project for its reliability and safety and is prov- Major portions of large scale infrastruc-
is under execution and work on it had en for more than 50 years. The train ture projects are financed by debt, and
begun after visiting Japanese Prime Min- delay record of Shinkansen is less than a the cost of debt is a significant portion of
ister Shinzo Abe and Prime Minister Nar- minute with zero fatality. Thus, the pro- the total costs. As a part of cooperation
endra Modi laid the foundation stone for ject is set to provide reliable and com- agreement between India and Japan,
the maiden 508 km long high-speed rail fortable service with high standards of Government of Japan will provide a soft
project. This would be mostly elevated safety. loan of about 88,000 crores at miniscule

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