Mumbai – Ahmedabad: India’s Ambitious High-Speed Rail Project

Guest Post by Caleb Villamin

In collaboration with the Japanese government, India is well-underway with a groundbreaking 500 km (315 mi) high-speed railway between the cities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad, bringing its long-outdated railway network into the modern day.

Project Background

In 2017, Indian PM Narendra Modi met with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe to establish an international collaboration to develop the ambitious project. Rather than develop a completely new high-speed rail network independently, which could result in major cost overruns due to inexperience, India selected Japan due to their expertise building the Shinkansen. The partnership sees Japan contributing expertise, funding, and technology for India’s first high-speed railway. Alongside the JP¥650B (US$4.5B) loan, the Japanese are contributing a 4000 personnel training program, as well as their world-class safe signalling and Japanese-built Shinkansen train sets to India’s first high-speed railway. The selected rolling stock is the E5 Shinkansen, with a top speed of 320 km/h (200 mph) and a passenger capacity of 731. 92% of the rail corridor will sit on elevated guideways, with a unique feature being the 7 km (4.3mi) undersea tunnel underneath Thane Creek near Mumbai.

Running between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, two major economic hubs, the high-speed railway will shorten the current 6-hours by rail journey to just two hours. India’s National High Speed Rail Corporation outlines the types of service that will be offered on this line. The “high-speed” service will take 2 hours and 58 minutes, and stop at all of the following 12 stations:

• Ahmedabad (Sabarmati)
• Ahmedabad (Kalupur)
• Anand
• Vadodara
• Bharuch
• Surat
• Bilimora
• Vapi
• Boisar
• Virar
• Thane
• Mumbai (Bandra Kurla Complex)

Meanwhile, the ‘rapid high speed’ service will make an end-to-end trip in just 2 hours and 7 minutes, stopping at:

Ahmedabad (Sabarmati) – Vadodara – Surat – Mumbai (Bandra Kurla Complex)

Current Stages

With the project beginning in 2017, significant progress has been made on construction. Current projections estimate the first leg of the system between Surat and Bilimora to be opened in 2026, with the full system being operational in 2028. As of 2024, the following key milestones have been reached, according to Rishika Butwani of Times Property:

• Undersea tunnel begins construction – the total 21km tunnel, with a 7km undersea segment, breaks ground between BKC and Shilphata in Mumbai
• 194 km (121 mi) of viaduct and 322 km (200 mi) of pier work are finalised
• Bridges across nine rivers are completed
• Groundwork for eight stations has been completed
• Structural work for Surat Depot completed
• Excavation for Mumbai’s station has begun

35,000 metric tons of rails have arrived at Surat and Vadodara for assembly and testing.

Challenges

Despite the project’s bright future, there were various political hurdles to overcome before construction began. One notable issue was land acquisition, with local governments in various states protesting the project, such as in Maharashtra. A local anti-bullet train coalition came to power in 2022 which briefly stalled construction developments in the region. Moreover, the pushback from local authorities caused the High-Speed Rail Corporation to pay “four times” the circle rate of land, as well as a 25% bonus to compensate the lost livelihood of shops. In Gujarat, state laws required a 4x financial compensation for lost land, with various farmers protesting the alignment due to its division of their arable property.

Lessons for the USA

A key lesson of this project is the international cooperation with another nation who has expertise building high-speed rail infrastructure. Through collaborating with the experienced high-speed rail builder Japan, India has overcome many pitfalls that have plagued the infamous California High Speed Rail. For instance, Japan helped inform the methodology concerning the route alignment, maximising cost returns for the hefty project by directing the route through dense population areas. The tight coordination and communication between various Indian governmental and private entities mitigated issues regarding land acquisition, such as through establishing compensatory plans for farmers and local residents whose livelihoods would be disrupted by the construction. Japan’s expertise regarding construction of high-speed rail infrastructure creates more accurate budgeting and reduced wasted costs. But above all, the loan agreement, alongside providing a secured funding source, eases present financial burdens on India’s local economy.

To carry over the successful elements of this project to the USA, high-speed rail administrations should seek to partner with established international organisations or governments such as Deutsche Bahn, SNCF, or of course Japan. The collaboration provides a key guiding hand in planning and construction which reduces wasted funds and maximises effort on all areas of the project. While this foreign partnership already somewhat exists when it comes to rolling stock procurement, such as Siemens providing Velaro train sets for Brightline West, and Alstom’s TGV on the Northeast Corridor, the USA needs to think bigger in order to build up a successful and efficient high-speed rail network.