Railway targets $ 15-bn bullet train by 2022

Indian Railways is working overtime to push ahead with the "Bullet Train" project, aiming to complete ahead of the August 2022 deadline, Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani said that he himself has taken up the task of monitoring and chairing the periodic review meetings of the project to cost over Rs.1 lakh crore ($15 billion). In this connection, he recently held a high-level meeting in Rail Bhavan, which was attended by Japanese Ambassador Kenji Hiramatsu, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, Central government officials, Principal Secretary-rank officials of Gujarat and Maharashtra, officials of NHSRCL (National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited), and also from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and General Manager, Western Railway. As a matter of fact, railways is in no mood to delay the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project and in order to strictly adhere to the timelines the empowered officials will now hold a review meeting once every three months. In addition, it was also decided at the meeting to prepare a road map for consultancy and civil engineering works by January 2018" and a report on the signaling system and electrical reports would be ready by April 2018.