Satish Kumar, the chief executive officer and chairman of the Railway Board under the Ministry of Railways, stated that the cost of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project has been doubled to 1.98 lakh crore.
During a briefing on Friday, marking the 50th meeting of PRAGATI (Pro Active Governance and Timely Implementation), Kumar said that though the final auction of the NHSRCL is not finalised, the cost has been confirmed to be around 1.98 lakh crore, which is double the initial cost. He further stated that the cost was not yet confirmed by the cabinet, but will soon be confirmed.
The national high-speed rail corporation limited bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad was supposed to cost about 1.08 lakh crore initially, with low-cost technology provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. As per reports, the government of India will face all additional costs with no additional funds to be provided by JICA.
NHSRCL is a special-purpose vehicle incorporated in 2016 to finance, construct, and manage India’s high-speed rail network. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad project, India’s first high-speed rail network project, expected to be completed by 2022, has faced a number of delays from the COVID-19 pandemic and land acquisition issues. The project is now expected to be completed by 2029.
India’s Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has also confirmed that the first bullet train will run between the Surat-Bilimora stretch on 15 August 2027. This will be followed by successive trains to the Vapi-Surat, Vapi-Ahmedabad, and Thane-Ahmedabad sections. It will be connected via 12 stations, namely Thane, Mumbai, Virar, Vapi, Boisar, Billimora, Surat, Vadodara, Bharuch, Anand, Ahmedabad, and Sabarmati.
