DMPQ- What is High speed railway project ? Throw light on the salient features of the project ?

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which undertook the study on  the feasibility of this prestigious project, submitted its report in July 2015. The project  was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, in December 2015, to  be implemented with Japanese technical and financial assistance. The memorandum of  understanding for cooperation between India and Japan was signed on 12th December  2015. A new special purpose vehicle with 50 per cent equity participation from the  Ministry of Railways and 50 per cent from the state governments of Maharashtra and  Gujarat was to be set up to implement the project.

  • Project implementation time will be approximately seven years from the commencement of construction.
  • Japanese official  development  assistance  will  be ₹ 79,  165 crore  (81 percent  fof   project   cost)  for  50 years  with 0.1 per  cent  interest  and a  15-year
  • Certain identified packages  would have  either  a  Japanese  company as  prime  contractor or a Japanese-led JV.
  • Certain identified goods manufactured in Japan would be  procured from
  • Total length of  the  proposed corridor  is  508 km  between the  Bandra  Kurla  complex in  Mumbai  and Sabarmati/  Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
  • Sixty-four per  cent  of  the  corridor  will  be  constructed on embankment,  25 per  cent   viaduct  and 6 per  cent  tunnel,  with a  standard gauge.
  • The stretch will  cover  12 stations  between Mumbai  and Sabarmati.
  • The maximum  design speed will  be  350 kmph with an operating speed of  320 kmph.
  • It will have 10-car trains (750 seats) in the beginning and 16-car trains (1200 seats) in the future.
  • Thirty-five trains per day each way will operate by 2023, which will go up to 105 trains per day each way in 2053.