Mumbai: The first pictures of what India’s first bullet train, between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, will look like has been released.
Japan Embassy released photos of E5 Series Shinkansen, which are to be modified into bullet train which will run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
Work for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project, launched by Indian and Japanese prime ministers Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe three years ago, is scheduled to be completed by 2023.
The train, to run at a maximum speed of 350 km per hour, will cover the distance of 508 km in under three hours.
The ambitious project of the Modi government will cost Rs 1.10 lakh crore, of which Japan is providing a loan of Rs 88,000 crore at a minimal interest of 0.1 per cent.
The National High Speed Rail Corporation had opened bids for part of the project on September 24, with Larsen & Toubro winning the contract beating Tata Projects, Ircon International-Afcons Infrastructure-JMC Projects consortium, and J Kumar Infra Projects-NCC-HSR consortium.
It covers 47 per cent of the total route, between Vapi and Vadodara in Gujarat, and includes four stations, 24 rivers and as 30 road-crossings.
Work in the Maharashtra stretch, though, is yet to start as the Uddhav Thackeray government is not keen on the project.