ANDALIB AKHTER / New Delhi
India’s much awaited Bullet Train project will commence on September 14, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will jointly laid foundation of the venture at Ahmedabad in Gujarat. The rail link will be operation in 2023.
The Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed railway project will come up with financial and technical assistance from Government of Japan.
Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said the project had been given a final shape and it was just waiting for the Japanese PM to come.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is likely to visit India between Sept. 12 and 14.
According to Japnese media, Abe is expected to hold a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attend a ceremony related to India’s high-speed railway project, which uses Japan’s shinkansen technology.
According to sources, the two leaders are also expected to discuss potential responses to North Korea, which continues to push forward with its nuclear and missile development programs despite U.N. sanctions.
The visit, which will be Abe’s first since December 2015, is part of an agreement between the leaders to make alternating bilateral visits. Modi visited Japan in November last year.
At their meeting in 2015, Abe and Modi agreed that India will use the shinkansen system for its high-speed railway to connect the western cities of Mumbai and Ahmadabad.
Biggest challenge the project is likely to face is its legitimacy in the country like India where even age old trains are not being maintained properly.
Right from the announcement of bullet train project, many have accused it of being a ‘vanity project’ that India’s cash-strapped railway network simply doesn’t need.
According to a 2012 report by an Indian Government committee, there are currently 11,806 miles of existing track in desperate need of modernisation while 15,000 people are killed crossing the tracks every year because of poor safety standards.
Photo: Shinkansen, Japan
