PM Modi and Shinzo Abe to launch work on India's first bullet train

Ahmedabad: PM Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe, who will be arriving today, for a two-day visit, will launch work on India’s first bullet train in Ahmedabad. The project will be a joint venture between the Indian Railways and the Japanese firm Shinkansen Technology.

The bullet train is expected to cost Rs. 1.10 lakh crore for the first rail link. Japan will fund 81 per cent of the entire project. The loan is at an interest rate of 0.1% and India can repay it over a period of 50 years.

The proposed Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train will come with two speed options for the passengers—high-speed and rapid high-speed and its fare could be in the range of Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000.

According to sources, the Railways has planned to run two types of bullet trains on the basis of their speed. The high-speed train will halt at all ten stations on the proposed high-speed corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, while the rapid high-speed train will halt only at major stations.

It is expected to run on an average speed of 250 km per hour, with a top speed of around 320 km per hour – more than double the maximum speed of the fastest train in India.