Mumbai : The High Speed Rail or bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad could be on an elevated corridor to avoid the large-scale land acquisition hurdles. A senior state government official said that the Empowered Committee set up for to work out the modalities of the project has recommended an elevated bullet train. “The Empowered Committee, under the Chairmanship of the Department of Economic Affairs Secretary, has recommended that it is desirable that the bullet train should be elevated,” said Additional Chief Secretary, Transport and Ports, Gautam Chatterjee told Free Press Journal.
However, the final decision whether the corridor will be elevated or on grade will be taken by the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which will be set up between the State Government of Maharashtra, State government of Gujarat and the Ministry of Railways. “The decision will be taken ultimately by the SPV,” Chatterjee added.
According to Chatterjee, the primary advantage of opting for an elevated corridor would be simpler acquisition of land which the project will require. “We will still require land, but acquiring land in this option will be simpler,” he added. Other advantages of running the train on an elevated corridor will also mean that the entire corridor will not have to be fenced to prevent people and cattle from crossing over. The pet-project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is estimated to cost Rs 97,636 crore. Now if the elevated option is accepted the cost of the project is estimated to shoot up by additional Rs 10,000 crore. Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is providing soft loan for the project and is funding 81 per cent of the total project cost.
However, experts say that nowhere in the world there is a high speed rail which is completely elevated. “I am not aware of any bullet train which is completely elevated. There are some stretches which are like bridges in Tokyo. Having said that, as a bullet train travels at such fast speeds it requires absolute clear area; in India we need to sanitise the complete area, there cannot be any crossing etc. hence, elevated is a good idea. Plus land acquisition will be easier,” said Ashok Datar, transport expert. With the train zipping though at speed of 300-350kmph, travel time between the two cities is expected to come down from 8 hours to 2 hours. The 505 km long corridor is likely to be extended to connect Mumbai with Delhi in the future. The Railways has already received the inception report for feasibility study of the Delhi-Mumbai high-speed corridor.
