All you need to know about India’s first bullet train with 350 km/hr top speed

NEW DELHI: After many years of tussle, India is finally on its way to get high-speed rail transportation in the form of the bullet train. A couple of months back, Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe has inked a deal for India's first high-speed bullet train. The project was inaugurated near the Sabarmati River which will run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Japan has mastered the art of high-speed rail networks and will be extending full support to India. The crux of it can be taken out from the fact that since the beginning of Bullet trains in Japan, there is not even a single incident of an accident. Japan has also offered its Shinkansen bullet train technology which is among the fastest in the world.

With the approval of the Bullet train project, the government claims to revolutionize the whole railway infrastructure. But at the same time, critics have started raising a lot of questions regarding the safety-related issues of new this project. As Indian railways have already gone through a number of derailments incident in the recent past which have resulted in the loss of human lives. So, it would be better to revamp the existing structure rather than betting for new projects.

But now as the Bullet train has got the approval from the government's side, it would be interesting to see the train journey to reach a whole new horizon. The highlight of the project goes as under:

• The project which is expected to be completed by 2022 will cover a stretch of 508 km and run at a maximum speed of 350 km per hour. The distance is supposed to be covered stretch in less than three hours.
• For the convenience of the customers, there will be two options on the offer:
a. High-speed: This option will take you to the destination in 2.58 hours.
b. Rapid high-speed: This option will take lesser time as compared to the other and will cover the distance in 2.07 hours.
• There is an estimated cost of Rs1,10,000 crore for the 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Project. Japan will be aiding the project with a soft loan of Rs 88,000 crore and the grace period will of 15 years. Moreover, the time period for repayment of the loan will be for 50 years and the interest rate would be as low as 0.1%. The total cost of the project will be collectively borne by Indian Railways, Maharashtra and Gujarat governments.

• The presently proposed stations will include Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad, and Sabarmati.
• As per the reports of the railway ministry, the Bullet train will be zooming at the speed of 320 kilometers per hour and maximum speed will clock at 350 kilometers per hour. Thus, with the given speed, the train would take 2 hours and 58 minutes.
• According to the drafted plan, Bullet train will make70 rides to and fro from Ahmedabad to Mumbai a day.
• India will be importing 24 high-speed trains from the Japan and rest will be manufactured in India.
• High-speed train corridor will include an elevated, underground and undersea tunnel. The train will be running 21 kilometers underground and out of that there will be 7 kilometers travel under the sea.
• The Bullet train will be serving around 1300 passenger at one go with it's 10 and 16 coaches and will have a business and standard class with prices comparable with the base AC 2-tier fare of the Rajdhani Express.

• Indian Railways and National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited will be taking care of the provided services in the Bullet Train.
• The project will need around 825 hectares of land with the construction of tunnels between Boisar and BKC in Mumbai.
• The proposed employment from the Bullet train project will generate around 15 lakh new jobs which will include about 4,000 technical staff.
• The next project of Indian Railways will include a high-speed train from Delhi to Amritsar via Chandigarh. The estimated route will be of 458 km long and will take around 2 hours and 30 minutes to run the entire distance.