Bullet train will kill rail safety, says Chidambaram

He alleged that the project being executed with Japanese technical and financial assistance “is not for ordinary people. It is an ego trip for the high and mighty”.

Chidambaram also advised Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to instead use the Rs 1 lakh crore envisaged for the project to ensure safety and better infrastructure in the railway sector. “Railways should spend on safety, better infrastructure and better facilities. Not on bullet train,” he said.

The “Railway Minister may take pledge on day after. Rs one lakh crore for rail safety, track upgrading, signalling & not for bullet train,” he said in a tweet.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe had on September 14 laid the foundation stone for India’s first bullet train between the two cities.