Highspeed train to take six years to complete, train fare to be less than airfare

It will take six whole years for the Mumbai­-Ahmedabad high speed rail corridor but the Railway Minister says that the fare will be less than airfare.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today in Lok Sabha said the ambitious project is doable and the highspeed train project would be cost effective too. The high speed bullet train is expected to cover 508 km between Mumbai and Ahmedabad in about two hours, running at a maximum speed of 350 kmph and operating speed of 320 kmph. At present, Duronto Express takes about seven hours to cover the distance between the two financial centres.

Talking about the massive funding received for the particular project, Prabhu said "there was no regional bias. Every state has got more than double than earlier." The high speed rail project has been sanctioned with technical and financial assistance from the government of Japan and the joint feasibility study of the project has already been done by Japanese International Agency.

The 508km long Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail corridor is estimated to cost about Rs 97,636 crore, 81 per cent of the funding for the project will come in form of a loan from Japan. The project cost includes possible cost escalation, interest during construction and import duties. The project is being funded by Japan with a soft loan for 50 years at 0.1 per cent annual interest with 15 years' moratorium. Rolling stock and other equipment like signalling and power system will be imported from Japan as per the loan agreement.

Railways has spelt out its policy with regard to running of high speed and semi­high speed trains by identification of potential routes for both kinds of train services. Prabhu said feasibility studies for other high speed corridors have been awarded to various railway companies. Delhi­-Mumbai high speed corridor has been awarded to the consortium of the Third Railway Survey and Design Institute Group Corporation (Chinese consultant) and Lahmeyer International from India. Feasibility study of high speed corridors on Mumbai­- Chennai, Delhi­-Kolkata, Delhi­-Nagpur and Mumbai­-Nagpur have also been awarded to different global consultants.

Prabhu said railways have identified nine corridors for feasibility of semi-­high speed rail. Delhi­-Chandigarh, Chennai­-Bengaluru­-Mysore, Delhi­-Kanpur, Nagpur­-Bilaspur, Mumbai-­Goa, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Chennai­-Hyderabad and Nagpur­-Secunderabd are being considered for semi-­high speed routes.