Bullet Train Project Launched in India | Rs. 88,000 crore loan from Japan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe launched work on India’s first bullet train project between Ahmedabad in Gujarat and Mumbai. The Bullet train Projected is expected to begin operating in 2022 and will run at a maximum speed of 350 km per hour to cover the 508-km stretch in under three hours. This grand project will cost around Rs. 1.10 lakh crore for India. Japan is giving a loan of Rs. 88,000 crore for the project at a minimal interest of 0.1 per cent. The 508 km high-speed rail link to Mumbai is seen as a centrepiece of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to describe India’s capability to build high-tech projects. He said at the ceremony that,

“This is the new India and the flight of its dreams is endless,”

“The bullet train project will bring speed and employment. It is human-friendly and eco-friendly.”

The government aims to launch the high-speed line by the 75th anniversary of Indian independence on 15 August 2022. The bullet Train will run from Ahmedabad, the Gujarat capital, to the financial hub, Mumbai.

Indian officials say the Bullet train will have a maximum speed of 217mph that is 350km/h which is more than twice the speed of India’s current fastest train, which runs from the capital, Delhi, to Agra at a comparably slow maximum of 100mph. The Shinkansen model bullet train will cut the 316-mile journey from Ahmedabad to Mumbai from eight hours to around three.

More than four-fifths of the project’s $19bn that is £14.4bn cost will be funded by a minimal rate of 0.1% interest loan from Japan as part of a deepening economic relationship that both countries expect will act as a bulwark upon Chinese influence in Asia. PM Modi said that

“Japan has shown that its a true friend of India,”

Japan PM Shinzo Abe told after prime ministers of the two countries also laid the foundation stone for an institute in Vadodara,

“A strong India is good for Japan and a strong Japan is good for India,”

PM Abe spoke in Japanese but began with “Namaskar” and ended his speech with a “Dhanyawad.”

PM Modi said,

“New India… has taken an important step towards fulfilling a big dream.” He said the “bullet train will bring employment as well as speed,” adding that it was an emotional moment for India and that Japan has proved itself a “strong friend.”

Around 4,000 people will be trained for the bullet train project. The two leaders held summit meetings after the ceremony. India and Japan confirmed 15 agreements to further broad-based their strategic partnership and recognized to strengthen cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Rs. 1.1 lakh crore bullet train project is a joint undertaking between the Indian Railways and Japanese firm Shinkansen Technology. The Japanese team figured that the first train would roll out by 2023, but Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said PM Modi wants the train to start on 15 August 2022 that is when India completes 75 years of Independence.

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