Yes, you heard that right! The tariff for the bullet train to dive under the sea (between Mumbai and Ahmedabad) will be 1.5 times more than first class AC fare applicable presently, as proposed by the Ministry of Railways.
For instance, the fare for travelling between Mumbai and Ahmedabad (508 km) is Rs. 2,200 (AC first class). The fare would be Rs. 3,300 (1.5 times more than the fare of AC first class) for anyone travelling via the bullet train.
As per Manoj Sinha’s (Minister of State for Railways) written reply in the Lok Sabha, while the maximum design speed of the Indian network in the first phase would be Rs. 350 km/hr, the operating speed would be 320 km/hr.
The Ministry of Railway has high expectations from the new bullet train and aims at reaching out as to as many 36,000 daily users per day both ways by 2023 and going up to 186,000 by 2053. It is learnt that total time for the commute would take only 2.07 hours; that’s quite fast!
There will be a total of 12 stations including Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad and Sabarmati, and the total cost for the completion of the project would be around Rs.97,636 crore as told by the Minister. Also, the technology that’ll be used for bullet trains will further the performance of normal trains and the integration of the signalling system.
Here are a few things you need to know about India’s first bullet train to dive under the sea:
- For the first time, an “under the sea” rail track will be constructed in India
- Only a 21 km stretch from Thane to Virar will go under the sea, rest of the line will be constructed on an elevated track
- The estimated time of the entire commute would take 2 hours and the corridor of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train will be 508 km long
- The construction will begin by the end of 2018 and the project will be supervised by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency)
