Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Train Project Got Delayed Due to Erstwhile Thackeray Govt: Vaishnaw

The beginning of the tunnel boring operations started on Friday with Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw conducting the first remote-controlled blasting for the digging work. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed train corridor will be India's first such project. The minister said the project got delayed due to the previous state government.

Mumbai:Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday blamed the erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray government for slowing down the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project saying had it given permission on time then the mega project would have progressed much faster. He also announced that the first stretch of the 508-km-long corridor between Surat and Bilimora would become operational in July-August 2026.

"The then Uddhav Thackeray government did not give all the permissions. It was only after the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government came to power that permission were given within 10 days. Had the previous government given the permissions then the project would have expedited a lot by now," Vaishnaw told media persons after inspecting the project work.

Vaishnaw conducted the first remote-controlled blasting for starting tunnel digging at Vikhroli shaft. Work is being conducted at the entry points to the underground tunnel namely Vikhroli, Thane and Sawli.

He said that the 21 km long and 40 feet wide tunnel runs 7 km undersea, which is a challenging task. Inside the tunnel, train can run at a speed of 320 km/hr. "This will be India's first high-speed corridor project," he added.

The first stretch of the corridor will be opened in July-August 2026 between Surat and Bilimora and the remaining sections will become operational one after the other, he said. The minister, however, did not provide any timeline for completing the entire corridor.

The project is being implemented by the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited. There will be a total of 12 stations. The corridor will have both limited and all stop services. The limited stop trains will cover Mumbai and Ahmedabad in two hours while the all stop trains will do so in 2hr 45 mins.

Vaishnaw said that work has progressed very fast in Gujarat where the bullet train corridor viaduct is ready and now work is being undertaken with same speed in Maharashtra. The Ministry plans to run 35 trains per day in each direction wherein trains will operation every 20-minute during peak hours and 30 minutes otherwise.

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