India’s first bullet train on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route will begin service soon, cutting travel time to just 2 hours and 7 minutes, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Sunday.
1 / 6Bullet Train Soon: India’s first bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad will start operations “very soon,” Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on Sunday. “The first bullet train from Mumbai to Ahmedabad will start very soon, and the work on the project is going on at a fast pace,” he said. “When it starts running, the journey… will take only two hours and seven minutes.”
2 / 6Flag-Off Ceremony: Vaishnaw made the announcement at Gujarat’s Bhavnagar terminus, where he virtually flagged off three express trains — “the Bhavnagar Terminus–Ayodhya Cantt Express, the Rewa–Pune Express, and a new train connecting Jabalpur to Raipur.” Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai attended the event virtually. The minister also outlined several upcoming railway projects across the state.
3 / 6High-Speed Route: The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train will run along a 508-kilometre high-speed rail corridor, connecting Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai to Vapi, Surat, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, and Sabarmati in Gujarat. Trains will run at 320 kilometres per hour, covering the journey in two hours and seven minutes (127 minutes). The corridor will include 12 stations across both Maharashtra and Gujarat.
4 / 6Project Funding: The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project has an estimated cost of ₹1,08,000 crore (approximately). According to Vaishnaw, “Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is funding 81% of the project cost i.e. ₹88,000 crores.” This partnership supports India’s first venture into high-speed rail using Japanese bullet train technology, which will be implemented across the full route.
5 / 6Train Contract Details: In 2023, Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai awarded BEML Limited a contract to design, manufacture, and commission two high-speed trains for the project. BEML stated that “the price of each high-speed car is ₹27.86 crore and the total contract value is ₹866.87 crore.” Both trainsets will be developed using Japanese Shinkansen technology to match international standards.
6 / 6Completion Timeline: In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Vaishnaw confirmed that the Vapi to Sabarmati section in Gujarat is planned to be completed by December 2027. He added, “The entire project (Maharashtra to Sabarmati section) is expected to be completed by Dec, 2029.” He also noted that “Bullet train project is a very complex and technology intensive Project.”.
