Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train? Chinese team visits CST.

Interest in a possible Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor reached a fever pitch recently with a nine-member Chinese delegation led by Lu Dong Fu, vice-minister, Ministry of Transport in China, visiting the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in south Mumbai. The delegation is in India to pursue high speed train projects.

The arrival of the Chinese delegation led by a top authority is an indication of China's keeness to take up a proposed rail link project in India.

Mumbai-Ahmedabad is one of the three rail links identified by the Indian Railways for running bullet trains, the other two being Delhi-Agra and Delhi-Chandigarh. A technical and financial feasibility study for the Rs. 60,000-crore rail link by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is already under way and a final report is expected mid-next year.

During the two-hour visit, the Chinese officials interacted with General Manager of Central Railway and also took a guided tour of the suburban railway booking counters, suburban railway platforms and train management system.


THE INDIAN EXPRESS