Ahmedabad: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said that 360 km of the Bullet Train project has been completed, with significant progress on the Maharashtra section that got a setback due to a delay in permissions by the Uddhav Thackeray government.

“The Bullet Train project is progressing well, with 360 km completed and track laying underway… The project aims to create economic hubs along the route, boosting growth in cities like Mumbai, Thane, Vapi, Surat, Vadodra, Anand and Ahmedabad, making them interconnected as a single economic zone,” Vaishnaw told mediapersons.

He said all these cities will see huge economic activities. “A Bullet Train should not be seen just as a transportation project but it a project for the growth of the entire area,” he said.

He said that the Maharashtra section of the Bullet Train project is advancing well, with “almost 2 km of the undersea tunnel completed.”

He criticised Uddhav Thackeray alleging that his government delayed the project by two-and-a-half-years. However, he stated, work is now moving at full speed and will greatly benefit future generations.

The Railway Minister also highlighted the growth patterns related to the first Bullet Train in Japan between Tokyo and Osaka.

The six big stations between Osaka and Tokyo – Nagoya, Kyoto, Atami, Shinagawa, Shin-Yokohama and Odawara – have become big industrial hubs, he said.

Vaishnaw said similar gains, in terms of growth, will be made on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train corridor.

“In the morning, a person would be able to have a breakfast of fafda-dhokla in Ahmedabad and attend to work in Mumbai during the day before returning home and spending time with kids in Ahmedabad,” he said.

Similarly, a person in Mumbai would begin the day with a breakfast of poha and complete his work in Surat during the day and return to Mumbai to spend time with the family in the evening, he said.

During his visit to Ahmedabad’s Kalupur Railway Station, the Minister attended an event organised by the Rail Line Development Authority.

Speaking about the Ahmedabad Kalupur Railway Station redevelopment project, Vaishnaw emphasised that it is a four-year initiative designed to be a major gift for the city.

The Minister highlighted that the station’s new design has been planned while keeping Ahmedabad’s cultural heritage in mind. The project has also received significant inputs from Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said the station has been designed with special stress on strength of material used in girders to manage pressure zone developed around a train moving at a speed of 350 kmph.

“The roof of the platform is also left open to manage the pressure generated,” Vaishnaw said, during the inspection of the station.

The station’s design is unique, he said, highlighting its three-levels. “The ground level, concourse level and platform level. Passengers will wait on the concourse level and the platform level,” he said.

Trains on Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor will operate at a speed of 320 kmph covering a distance 508 Km and 12 Stations. There will be 35 trains per day/one direction, with a frequency of 20 minutes in peak hours and 30 minutes in non-peak hours.

With a limited stop (in Surat and Vadodara) service, it will cover this distance in 1 hour and 58 minutes and all stops service will take 2 hour 57 minutes. Operational Control centre for MAHSR corridor will be located at Sabarmati.