First 2022, then 2023 and now 2026… why the delay in running the bullet train?
In the year 2015, it was announced to start a bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. India signed an agreement with Japan for the bullet train. The foundation stone of this project was laid in September 2017. Then the Railways had said that every effort would be made to start high-speed rail between Mumbai and Ahmedabad by August 15, 2022. This guideline for the year 2022 has been extended by one year to 2023. And now Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has said that bullet train is expected to start by 2026.
Ashwini Vaishnav told that the target has been set to run the first bullet train between Surat and Bilimora by 2026. He said that the work is going very well and it is expected that the service will be started by 2026.
A high-speed rail corridor is being built from Ahmedabad to Mumbai, on which bullet trains will run. The speed of this train will be 320 kilometers per hour. The journey between Ahmedabad to Mumbai by bullet train will be completed in 2 hours 7 minutes. At present, it takes 9 hours to travel between these two cities by bus and 6 hours by train.
What is Bullet Train Project? Understand in 5 points
- Japan is helping for India’s first bullet train. For this an agreement has been signed between India and Japan. Rs 1.08 lakh crore is estimated to be spent on this entire project, out of which 88 thousand crore rupees i.e. 81% loan has been received from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
- India’s first bullet train will run between Ahmedabad to Mumbai. For this a 508.09 km long high speed rail corridor is being built. The corridor of 463 km will be above ground and the corridor of 26 km will be built in the tunnel.
- This bullet train will pass through Gujarat, Maharashtra and Dadra Nagar Haveli. It will have 12 stations. Of these, 8 stations will be built in Gujarat and four in Maharashtra. The National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL) is fully responsible for this project.
- NHSRCL estimates that 17,900 passengers will travel every day after the start of train service. 35 rounds will be made daily at an interval of every half hour. Bullet train will run from 6 in the morning to 12 in the night.
- In 2020, Japan released a picture of a bullet train running in India. It was told that the Shinkansen bullet train of the E5 series will run in India. This train will be 255 meters long and will have 10 bogies. Out of the initial 24, 6 trains will be assembled in India.
How far has this work reached?
▪️Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav took stock of the work of the High Speed Rail Corridor on Monday. He told that the pillar has been placed on the route of 61 km and work is going on on the 150 km route.
▪️He claims that the matter is stuck regarding land acquisition in Maharashtra, due to which the work is progressing at a slow pace there. He said that this is a national project and there should be no politics on it.
▪️On 6 April this year, he told in the Lok Sabha that civil work has been started on the total 352 km route of Gujarat and Dadra Nagar Haveli from December 2020.
▪️NHSRCL said that till June 5, more than 90 percent of the land has been acquired. 1,396 hectares of land is required for this project, of which 1,260.76 hectares of land has been acquired.
▪️For Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train, 954.28 hectares of land is required in Gujarat, out of which 942.72 hectares of land has been acquired. Whereas, in Maharashtra, 433.82 hectares of land is required, out of which 310.14 hectares of land has been acquired. At the same time, the entire 7.90 hectares of land required in Dadra Nagar Haveli has been acquired.
▪️According to NHSRCL, more than 4 thousand families of Gujarat, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Maharashtra have been affected due to land acquisition. 297 villages have come under its ambit. Compensation has been given to the affected people. By March 2021, compensation of about Rs 5 thousand crore had been given to the people.
