Page 50 - 15MAR2020E

acquired in next six months.” He said the
work of acquiring the land is in advanced
stage and it will be available for the pro-
ject soon.
The chairman said that a total of 1,380
hectare land is required for the project,
out of which railways has acquired 479
hectare from the private persons and 119
hectare from government land. He also
said that once the 90 per cent of land is
acquired, six out of 29 tender packages
for the project will be out in the month
of March and April this year. Yadav also
stressed that theNational High Speed
Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) will

The Ahmedabad-Mumbai
bullet train is a visionary
future development of other High-Speed commitment of Rs 1.10 lakh crore to exe-
Corridors in India. cute the project. Interestingly, Thackeray project that will
In addition, 300 young officials of had likened the bullet train project to a
Indian Railways are being trained in “white elephant”, saying a decision on it herald a new era of safety,
Japan to give them exposure in high will be taken only after he is convinced
Speed Track Technology. Keeping in view it will boost industrial development of speed and service for the
the long-term plan for human resource the state.
development, Government of Japan has Apart from the Centre’s contribution, people and help Indian
also offered 20 seats per year for Master’s there is also a move to get 5,000 crore
course from the universities of Japan, for from states of Maharashtra and Guja- Railways become an
serving Indian Railway officials. This pro- rat, which own a fourth of equity in the
gramme is fully funded by Government project, in the form of extra budgetary international leader in
of Japan. resources (EBR), the Western Railway’s
‘Pink Book’ said. scale, speed and skills
Current status of project It can be noted that in FY20, the two
Even as Maharashtra Chief Minister states collectively contributed 1,000
Uddhav Thackeray has questioned the crore in EBR towards the project. The
high costs and feasibility of the bullet Japan International Cooperation Agency
train project, it has now emerged that (JICA) has made a soft loan commitment be able to complete the project before its
the Union Government has allotted of 1.10 lakh crore to execute the project. deadline of December 2023.
5,600 crore for the ambitious project The Union government-controlled He said that the project will be com-
for fiscal 2020-21. Sources in the National Indian Railways has a 50 per cent equity plete in three phases and the first phase
High-Speed Rail Corporation said a pro- stake in the project. In her budget speech of 50 km stretch will be completed by
vision of 5,600 crore has been made for last Saturday, Union Finance Minister August 2022. According to NHSRCL, the
the 500-km rail project, modelled on the Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted that the tender for design and construction of
lines of Japan’s famous bullet train. high-speed train between Mumbai and civil and building works, including test-
Apart from the Centre’s contribution, Ahmedabad would be “actively pursued”. ing and commissioning of 237 km length
there is also a move to get 5,000 crore About 47 per cent of land for bullet of mainline out of elevated 460 km,
from Maharashtra and Gujarat, which train project have by now been acquired. has been floated. The mainline has one
own a fourth of equity in the project, in The Railway Board Chairman V.K. Yadav mountain tunnel of about 280 metre, 24
the form of extra budgetary resources said, “Till date 47 per cent of the land river crossings and 30 road and canal
(EBR), the Western Railway’s “Pink Book” has been acquired for the 508-km long crossings.
said. The Japan International Coopera- Ahmedabad-Mumbai high speed rail
tion Agency (JICA) has made a soft loan project, and rest of the 53 per cent will be letters@tehelka.com

50