Work has started on India’s first, undersea bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad

Work on India’s first, high-speed, bullet train project has finally started. The project aims to connect Mumbai and Ahmedabad via an undersea bullet train. 

The proposed high-speed corridor measures at around 508 km in length. 21 km of this will be an underground stretch between Virar and Thane district. 7 km of the stretch, set in an area around Thane creek, will be under the sea.

The undersea stretch will be around 70 metres deep and drilling has started on the section. The aim of the drilling right now is only to determine if the soil and rock at that depth is stable and ascertain its load bearing capacity.

The rest of the track will be elevated.

The project is estimated to cost Rs 97,636 crores and “81 per cent of the funding for the project will come by way of a loan from Japan. The project cost includes possible cost escalation, interest during construction and import duties,” reports PTI.

The funding will be offered at a nominal interest fee of just 1 percent. Much of the technology and support will be provided by Japan. This is seen by some as a move by Japan to stem China’s growing investments in the Asia region. China has already won a contract to assess the feasibility of operating a high-speed train between Delhi and Mumbai, reports Reuters.

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad project is expected to field trains running at around 350 km/h. This will cut down the travel time from 7 hours to just 2 hours. The average speed of trains on India’s rail network is just 54 km/h.

Construction work is expected to commence in 2018 and is estimated to take 5 years to construct.

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