• By Abhirupa Kundu
  • Tue, 23 Apr 2024 01:04 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND

India's first bullet train is set to make its appearance on the railway tracks in 2026, Union Railways and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday. The Railway Minister said that significant progress has been made in the construction of various stations for the country's maiden bullet train and the Railways is geared up to run the first train in one section in 2026. Vaishnaw said that the work on bullet trains is progressing very well on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route.

"More than 290 kms of work has already been done. Bridges have been built over eight rivers. Work is going on at 12 stations. The stations have also come at the same level so that the work is nearing completion," Ashwini Vaishnaw told news agency IANS, during an interview.

The National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL) sharing picture of the bullet train project on social media platform X, wrote, "Ahmedabad is getting ready for transport revolution with Bullet Train Project! Two stations, one bridge on Sabarmati River and Train depot is taking shape."

"The work is going on at two depots. The work is going on at a very fast pace with the complete target of opening its first section in 2026," the Union Minister told.

The Bullet Train is a very complex project. The work on it started in 2017 and it took almost two-and-a-half years to complete the design. "Its design is very complex because the vibrations are very strong at the speed at which the train has to run," he added.

"How to manage those vibrations? If we have to take current from above electricity, then how to take that current? Everything like speed, aerodynamics etc. has to be looked at very carefully and the work started immediately after that," the Union Minister elaborated.

The work on the bullet trains faced a little setback due to the Covid pandemic. Vaishnaw said that in Maharashtra, during the tenure of the Uddhav Thackeray government, the project got delayed due to nonallowance of construction work, however he said that now the work is progressing very well.

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The bullet train corridor has a 21-km-long tunnel, including a 7-km undersea stretch. The deepest point of the tunnel is 56 metres. Inside the tunnel, the bullet trains will run at the speed of 300-320 kmph. The objective is to develop a high-frequency mass transportation system by constructing the High-Speed Rail between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, using Japan's Shinkansen technology (also known as the bullet train).

(With agency inputs)