Hope to have 1st bullet train by 2026: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

New Delhi, June 6

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said he was confident of achieving the target of running the country’s first bullet train between Surat and Bilimora in Gujarat in 2026 as good progress has been made in this direction.

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Vaishnaw was in Surat to inspect the progress of the government’s ambitious Ahmedbad–Mumbai bullet train project.

“We are keeping the target of running the first bullet train between Surat and Bilimora in 2026. The progress is very good, and we are confident of running the train by that time,” he told reporters.

Bilimora is a town in Navsari district of south Gujarat.

The project is aimed at running the bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai on a high speed rail corridor at a speed of 320 kmph, covering a distance of 508 km and 12 stations. The train is expected to reduce the travel time between the two cities to about three hours from the current six hours.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency is funding 81 per cent of project cost which is estimated at Rs 1.1 lakh crore.