Bullet Train Hub Nears Completion in Ahmedabad
India’s first high-speed rail service to Mumbai is targeted for launch by 2028
Ahmedabad: The main transit hub at Ahmedabad station for the National High Speed Rail Corridor is nearing completion, with civil works in their final stages and preparations underway for trial runs in 2027. Engineers involved in the project said they hope to launch India’s first high‑speed train service between Ahmedabad and Mumbai by 2028.
The first service will start with a train capable of carrying about 600 passengers. Officials plan to add more coaches gradually, increasing capacity to 10 bogies by adding two more coaches as per demand in the coming days. The transit hub of the bullet train in Ahmedabad connects with Metro services on one side and the railway station of the Indian railway network on the other, both located within a gap of nearly 100 metres. From the transit hub, passengers can move on to any transport mode, including city bus services on the ground floor. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, senior engineers—who preferred not to be named—expressed pride in the project and highlighted a home‑grown engineering success.
Indian engineers developed a 1,000‑metric‑ton capacity remote‑operated crane currently deployed at Surat and Anand. The crane lifts heavy girders from the yard area to elevated tracks of the bullet train with ease and has proven invaluable during construction. According to the engineers, nearly 80 countries have placed orders after seeing its performance.
On resilience and safety, project officers said the corridor has undergone extensive tests for seismic safety, recalling Gujarat’s experience with the Bhuj earthquake. They added that systems are designed to ensure “zero impact” during such calamities, and trains can be brought to a halt within seconds after receiving an alert.
The Ahmedabad–Mumbai high‑speed train will cover a total distance of 508 km in 2 hours and 5 minutes for fast and limited‑stop services, and 2 hours and 56 minutes for trains stopping at all 12 stations between the two major cities.
The project also involves strong collaboration with Japanese experts, with teams of 30–40 Japanese engineers working closely alongside Indian counterparts. Indian engineers said they have learned much from the Japanese work culture—strict adherence to schedules, meticulous planning and discipline. Workshops and maintenance facilities have been organised methodically, roles and responsibilities are clearly defined, and signalling operations follow tight timelines where even seconds matter, a project officer said.
As a mark of hospitality, when the Japanese engineers were offered sightseeing in the initial days of 2017, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation, they simply refused, stating they would take part during their vacation period. To mingle with locals, they even learned Gujarati and Hindi perfectly, they said.
Beyond technology, the engineers noted the cultural exchange between Ahmedabad and Japan. They said the bullet train project is evolving into a broader platform that connects technical expertise, work culture and people‑to‑people ties between the two countries.