India's first bullet train project: All you need to know

Zee Media Bureau

Here are the key facts of Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project: 

-Japan has offered a loan amounting to 81 percent of the estimated cost of the USD 15 billion (Rs 98,805 crore) Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail project, 

-With trains zipping along at up to 320kph, the Mumbai- Ahmedabad railway is expected to reduce travel time between the two cities from around eight hours to roughly two.

-The Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor is expected to enable trains to run at a top speed of 350 kmph.

-Construction is supposed to begin in 2017, with completion slated for 2023.

-The ambitious project requires 11 new tunnels, including one under the sea near Mumbai.

-It is expected to start at Bandra Kurla Complex, while the Ahmedabad point has not been decided.

-This corridor, along with 5 other corridors, was introduced for feasibility study in the 2009–2010 Rail Budget by then Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. 

-The proposed stations included Lonavla on Mumbai–Pune section and Surat, Bharuch and Vadodara on Mumbai–Ahmedabad section.

-The fare of the bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad may be somewhere around one and half times more than the fare of the first AC of Rajdhani Express and it would be around Rs 2800.

-It is estimated that by 2023 around 40,000 passengers are expected to avail this service everyday and accordingly it would be a financially viable service.

-The cost of laying per kilometer track of Bullet Train (High Speed Train) is approx. Rs. 80-120 crore, as compared to Rs. 10-12 crore for ordinary track and Rs. 150-200 crore for metro tracks.