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The Mumbai–Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor is an approved high-speed rail corridor in India connecting the cities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad. If built, it will be India's first high speed rail line. The project is estimated to cost between INR35,000 to INR60,000 crore.
This corridor, along with 5 other corridors, was introduced for feasibility study in the 2009–2010 Rail Budget by then Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. The 650 km long high speed rail corridor was proposed to run from Pune railway station to Ahmedabad railway station via Mumbai. The point at which this route would touch Mumbai was to be decided when the feasibility report was prepared. The pre-feasibility study for the Ahmedabad–Mumbai–Pune corridor was completed by a consortium of RITES, Italffer and Systra.
The top speed expected for the corridor was up to 350 kmph.
The proposed stations included Lonavla on Mumbai–Pune section and Surat, Bharuch and Vadodara on Mumbai–Ahmedabad section. It was proposed to have 32 services between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Railway officials also proposed extending the corridor up to Bangalore.
In March 2013, the Railway Board decided to drop the Mumbai-Pune section and operate the high speed rail service only between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The Board took the decision due to financial constraints, because the ghat section between Pune and Mumbai would escalate the budget for the project. According to V.A. Malegaonkar, Chief Public Relations Officer (PRO), Western Railway, "It's basically a Western Railway project and very little portion of Maharashtra was being covered under it. Hence, the Maharashtra government was showing little interest in the project and was also reluctant to bear a financial burden. That is the reason why the Railway Board has decided against including the Pune-Mumbai portion in the high speed corridor".
India and Japan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to undertake a joint feasibility study of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route in New Delhi in September 2013
This was in pursuance of the Joint Statement between then Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh and the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe on 29 May 2013, which provided that the two sides would co-finance a joint feasibility study of the route. The objective of the joint study was to prepare a feasibility report of the system with a speed of 300-350kmph. The cost of the study (¥500 million) was borne equally by India and Japan. The study was scheduled to be completed within 18 months from its commencement, i.e. it would complete by July 2015. The study carried out traffic forecasting, alignment surveys and undertook a comparative Study of high speed railway technology and systems.
An MoU was signed in New Delhi on 14 February 2013 between the Ministry of Railways and the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF), the French national railways, for technical cooperation in the field of railways. The parties agreed to carry out jointly an "operations and development" feasibility project on the Mumbai–Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor. The project was funded by the SNCF with support from the French Ministry of Finance. Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the SNCF carried out studies on the project. JICA researched the technology, alignment and traffic-related aspects, while SNCF worked on business projections.
The feasibility study included an alignment survey concerning aspects such as land acquisition, environmental challenges and building of tunnels and bridges, etc. It also suggested a financial model based on fare and non-fare box revenue.
JICA officials visited Mumbai in January 2014 to discuss the details of the project, and made selective site visits to the proposed route. On 21 January, following several meeting between JICA and Indian Railways officials, it was proposed to originate the corridor at the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai. The proposed route would begin from BKC, go right up to Thane on the Central Line, and then take a diversion on the Trans-Harbour route which is on the Thane-Diva-Vasai-Virar stretch. The corridor would then switch over to the Western Line, before entering Gujarat and terminating at Ahmedabad. There will be 11 stations on the route, of which 7 will be in Mahararashtra. The intention behind taking the route via Thane is to keep the option open to link the corridor to Pune. The team also proposed other options for originating the line at either Bandra Terminus or Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, if the BKC option was unfeasible. Air-conditioned bullet trains are expected to operate in the corridor at speeds of 320 kmph, enabling commuters to traverse the 534-km distance in 2 hours. Currently, the fastest train operating on this sector is the Ahmedabad Duronto Express, which takes close to 7 hours to reach Ahmedabad from Mumbai Central running non-stop between these two cities at a maximum speed of 120 kmph.
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The project held its first full-fledged meeting at the Railway Ministry in the first week of April 2014, to bring about a broad consensus on the project, especially between the governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The meeting was attended by representatives from the Maharashtra and Gujarat governments, and the JICA, and Railway Board officials. At the meeting, officials agreed to begin the line from BKC, and then take it to Thane and onward to Virar. The Maharashtra government was in favour of connecting the line with Belapur as well, in order to bring high speed rail to Navi Mumbai. However, railway officials were opposed to the Belapur detour. Officials also discussed the need to ensure that the terminal at BKC would be connected to Line 3 of the Mumbai Metro, enabling commuters from South Mumbai to reach BKC. The location of the terminal at Ahmedabad has not yet been decided. The Railways is in favour of constructing it "a little away" from the current Ahmedabad railway station.
It was reported on May 28 in the International Rail Journal that the project was approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a meeting with the chairman of the High Speed Rail Corporation of India.
The project is estimated to cost INR63000 crore (US$10 billion). It will be implemented on the PPP model with the governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat as stake-holders.
This corridor, along with 5 other corridors, was introduced for feasibility study in the 2009–2010 Rail Budget by then Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. The 650 km long high speed rail corridor was proposed to run from Pune railway station to Ahmedabad railway station via Mumbai. The point at which this route would touch Mumbai was to be decided when the feasibility report was prepared. The pre-feasibility study for the Ahmedabad–Mumbai–Pune corridor was completed by a consortium of RITES, Italffer and Systra.
The top speed expected for the corridor was up to 350 kmph.
The proposed stations included Lonavla on Mumbai–Pune section and Surat, Bharuch and Vadodara on Mumbai–Ahmedabad section. It was proposed to have 32 services between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Railway officials also proposed extending the corridor up to Bangalore.
In March 2013, the Railway Board decided to drop the Mumbai-Pune section and operate the high speed rail service only between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The Board took the decision due to financial constraints, because the ghat section between Pune and Mumbai would escalate the budget for the project. According to V.A. Malegaonkar, Chief Public Relations Officer (PRO), Western Railway, "It's basically a Western Railway project and very little portion of Maharashtra was being covered under it. Hence, the Maharashtra government was showing little interest in the project and was also reluctant to bear a financial burden. That is the reason why the Railway Board has decided against including the Pune-Mumbai portion in the high speed corridor".
India and Japan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to undertake a joint feasibility study of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route in New Delhi in September 2013
This was in pursuance of the Joint Statement between then Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh and the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe on 29 May 2013, which provided that the two sides would co-finance a joint feasibility study of the route. The objective of the joint study was to prepare a feasibility report of the system with a speed of 300-350kmph. The cost of the study (¥500 million) was borne equally by India and Japan. The study was scheduled to be completed within 18 months from its commencement, i.e. it would complete by July 2015. The study carried out traffic forecasting, alignment surveys and undertook a comparative Study of high speed railway technology and systems.
An MoU was signed in New Delhi on 14 February 2013 between the Ministry of Railways and the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF), the French national railways, for technical cooperation in the field of railways. The parties agreed to carry out jointly an "operations and development" feasibility project on the Mumbai–Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor. The project was funded by the SNCF with support from the French Ministry of Finance. Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the SNCF carried out studies on the project. JICA researched the technology, alignment and traffic-related aspects, while SNCF worked on business projections.
The feasibility study included an alignment survey concerning aspects such as land acquisition, environmental challenges and building of tunnels and bridges, etc. It also suggested a financial model based on fare and non-fare box revenue.
JICA officials visited Mumbai in January 2014 to discuss the details of the project, and made selective site visits to the proposed route. On 21 January, following several meeting between JICA and Indian Railways officials, it was proposed to originate the corridor at the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai. The proposed route would begin from BKC, go right up to Thane on the Central Line, and then take a diversion on the Trans-Harbour route which is on the Thane-Diva-Vasai-Virar stretch. The corridor would then switch over to the Western Line, before entering Gujarat and terminating at Ahmedabad. There will be 11 stations on the route, of which 7 will be in Mahararashtra. The intention behind taking the route via Thane is to keep the option open to link the corridor to Pune. The team also proposed other options for originating the line at either Bandra Terminus or Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, if the BKC option was unfeasible. Air-conditioned bullet trains are expected to operate in the corridor at speeds of 320 kmph, enabling commuters to traverse the 534-km distance in 2 hours. Currently, the fastest train operating on this sector is the Ahmedabad Duronto Express, which takes close to 7 hours to reach Ahmedabad from Mumbai Central running non-stop between these two cities at a maximum speed of 120 kmph.
The project held its first full-fledged meeting at the Railway Ministry in the first week of April 2014, to bring about a broad consensus on the project, especially between the governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The meeting was attended by representatives from the Maharashtra and Gujarat governments, and the JICA, and Railway Board officials. At the meeting, officials agreed to begin the line from BKC, and then take it to Thane and onward to Virar. The Maharashtra government was in favour of connecting the line with Belapur as well, in order to bring high speed rail to Navi Mumbai. However, railway officials were opposed to the Belapur detour. Officials also discussed the need to ensure that the terminal at BKC would be connected to Line 3 of the Mumbai Metro, enabling commuters from South Mumbai to reach BKC. The location of the terminal at Ahmedabad has not yet been decided. The Railways is in favour of constructing it "a little away" from the current Ahmedabad railway station.
It was reported on May 28 in the International Rail Journal that the project was approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a meeting with the chairman of the High Speed Rail Corporation of India.
The project is estimated to cost INR63000 crore (US$10 billion). It will be implemented on the PPP model with the governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat as stake-holders.
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