The announcement of a Rs 60,000-crore Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed corridor in the rail budget presented Tuesday has come as a shot in the arm for the two financial hubs separated by a little over 500 kms. A high-speed train, which can run up to 350 kmph, is likely to cut travel time between the two cities from the present 8-9 hours to up to 3 hours and benefit 12,000-15,000 commuters on the route daily. “It is the wish and dream of every Indian that India runs a bullet train as early as possible. The Indian Railways is on its way to fulfill that long-cherished dream. We propose bullet trains by starting off with an already identified Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector, where a number of studies have been done,” Railway Minister D V Sadanand Gowda said in the Lok Sabha while presenting the 2014-15 rail budget. “The project will be developed on public-private partnership. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is already studying the financial and operational feasibility of the project and is estimated to submit the report by June 2015,” said a senior railway official. The official added that most of the proposed corridor is expected to be elevated due to non-availability of land in city limits and also due to high cost of barricading the high-speed corridor. A small portion of the alignment is expected to be underground. A station every 100 km has been envisioned as a part of the 500-km long corridor. Western Railway is likely to ask the consultants to speed up the study since the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre is very keen the project. While the alignment of the corridor is yet to be finalised, some of the locations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) may include Thane, Virar Boisar and Palghar. On its way to Ahmedabad, some of the halts the Railways have suggested are at Vapi, Surat and Vadodara. “The WR wants to serve the industrial area near Boisar and Palghar and therefore the consultants have been advised to study the alignment accordingly,” the official added. According to another senior railway official, the Gujarat government also wants the corridor to go up to Gandhinagar, and therefore a halt at Sabarmati is under consideration. The original plan of the corridor included connectivity to Pune, as demanded by Maharashtra. However, since the alignment was to pass over hilly terrain, the cost of the Mumbai-Pune line would have been quite high, said a senior official, adding that the Pune route, if at all it works out, will only be in the next stage of the high-speed corridor. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor is likely to take at least eight years before it is commissioned for the public, said railways officials. “It is an optimistic estimate. If there is good support from the government, the project can be completed in eight to 10 years,” said an official.
