All aboard India's first bullet train

The long-standing tussle between the Maharashtra government and the Railways over the location of the terminal for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project (dubbed the 'bullet train' project) has finally ended in a truce.

Top government sources said that the state government has agreed to set up an underground terminal in the building housing the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) as demanded by the Railways. In turn, the Railways will build a state-of-the-art IFSC building for the state government replete with an underground terminal.

The station will be underground with the IFSC above ground.

The Rs 97,636-crore project, a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, required this timely truce as it was imperative that things fall into place for the Railways' plans to start construction of the high-speed line by 2017, said officials.

The National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRC), which will be constructing the line, and engineering consultancy Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) had already lined up tenders for pre-construction work. They include geo-technical surveys for the 21-km undersea tunnel near Thane, the final location survey that will mark the alignment of the line, land acquisition procedures, and the Lidar survey, a technique that uses lasers and radar imagery to create maps. These projects are due to start by the end of this year.

The plan is to finish construction by 2023 and it was worrying that the project had not moved forward, despite a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for funding.

According to Railway officials, the Managing Director as well as three Directors (Finance, Electricals and Systems) will be appointed by the end of November.

The slow-moving bullet train

Oct 2013: Joint study by Railways and JICA

July 2015: JICA submits feasibility study report to the Railways

Dec 2015: PM-led Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs approves the project after preliminary vetting by NITI Aayog

Dec 2015: India, Japan sign MoU finalising a loan

Feb 2016: National High Speed Rail Corporation registered under Companies Act, 1956

Oct 2016: Tenders invited for technical surveys

Nov 2016: Top officials to be selected for NHSR Corporation