The first stretch of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed train from Billimora to Surat will be ready by 2026, the minister of railways Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on Friday.
During his visit to Mumbai, the minister said that when completed, trials on the Billimora-Surat route will be conducted using the E5 series of Shinkansen trains.
In Gujarat, over 250 kilometres of girders have already been launched.
Vaishnaw conducted the first remote-controlled blasting for tunnel digging work at the Vikhroli shaft, marking the beginning of tunnel boring operations.
However, he did not provide the exact timeline for the completion of the entire 508-km route.
He added that the country’s first bullet train project faced delays due to the previous Maharashtra government’s delays.
“If the Uddhav Thackeray government hadn’t stalled this project, then a lot of work would have been completed in Maharashtra by now,” Vaishnaw said.