Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will lay the foundation stone of the proposed High Speed Rail Network — or, the bullet train — between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, here on September 14.
The ground-breaking and foundation stone laying ceremony for the joint Indo-Japanese project will be held at the Sabarmati Football Grounds, a railway official said here on Thursday. The Ahmedabad Railway Junction’s main station is also proposed to be gradually relocated from the crowded Kalupur to Sabarmati Railway Station area.
The bullet train project is expected to cost nearly ₹1.10 lakh crore and will be completed by 2022. The train will cover the 508-km-long distance between Ahmedabad and Mumbai in less than three hours at a speed of 350 km per hour. It will stop at each of the 12 railway stations on the route precisely for 165 seconds! A 21-km-long tunnel will be dug between Boisar and Mumbai’s BKC, of which seven km will be under water.
According to reports, Japan will extend 81 per cent of the cost as debt for 50 years at an interest of 0.1 per cent and its repayment will start after 15 years of the commencement of operations.
Investment summit On this occasion, an investment Summit will also be organized between the Indian side and a Japanese delegation comprising representatives from Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Besides, Modi will also visit Gujarat on September 17, his birthday, to participate in a number of events, and again on October 2.