The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train will ply on elevated tracks in order to avert land acquisition problems, said a state government official. He said the cost of the project is likely to escalate by Rs 10,000 crore owing to the elevated corridor.
In another development, the Union railway ministry is likely to reject the demand to run the bullet train via Nashik.
Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Corridor (bullet train) is Prime minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious project. The project is expected to cost around Rs 98,000 crore and Japan has agreed to finance the project.
“According to preliminary meetings with the concerned departments, it has been almost approved that the proposed bullet train will be elevated or else land acquisition would make it difficult to complete the project in a time-bound manner,” Gautam Chatterjee, additional chief secretary (transport and port) told The Asian Age.
Mr Chatterjee further said, “This move has been backed by the Union Ministry of Railways and it will increase the project cost by another Rs 10,000 crore.”
He added that the railway ministry had also turned down the state request to extend one arm of the corridor to Nashik.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had recommended that the bullet train corridor be extended to go via Nashik. Mr Chatterjee stated that the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has offered a soft loan for the project.
The project will be jointly implemented by the state governments of Maharashtra, Gujarat and the Ministry of Railways. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) is being set up to implement the project.
Out of the total project cost JICA is expected to fund 81 per cent (that is about Rs 79,165 crore). The top speed on the 505-km elevated corridor will be between 300 to 350 kmph. The project feasibility was jointly conducted by RITES, Italferr and Systra in July 2015.
