India’s First Bullet Train Section to be Complete by August 2026, Informs Vaishnaw

New Delhi: India’s first bullet train section, a 50km stretch connecting Bilimora and Surat in Gujarat will be ready in August 2026, said Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday.

The Railways Minister also said the number of new trains in India had increased from 1,768 mail/express services before the COVID pandemic to 2,124 now. Passenger trains have increased from 2,792 to 2,856 in the same period.

A week back, Vaishnaw posted on X about the completion of 100 km of viaducts and 230 km of pier work for the larger Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor. The Bilimora-Surat bullet train section is a part of this project.

Progress of Bullet Train project:

Till date: 21.11.2023
Pillars: 251.40 Km
Elevated super-structure: 103.24 Km pic.twitter.com/SKc8xmGnq2

— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) November 23, 2023

He posted a video on X (formerly Twitter) showing completed viaducts across the Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Vadodara, and Anand districts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.

The projected cost is an estimated Rs 1.08 lakh crore, of which the centre will provide Rs 10,000 crore, Gujarat and Maharashtra will contribute Rs 5,000 crore each. The remaining fund will be provided by Japan as a loan at 0.1 per cent interest rate.