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.
