India's first bullet train to be operational from August 2026: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

The first stretch of India's first bullet train's route, running between Bilimora and Surat in Gujarat, is set to open in August 2026. While the route of the train is from Ahmedabad to Mumbai, not much has been done regarding construction in Maharashtra.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the project had slowed down in Maharashtra due to land acquisition issues. "But I am a hopeful person and feel the issue will soon be solved amicably. Maharashtra should work in the spirit of cooperation and collaboration on the project," he said. Vaishnaw was in Surat to inspect the progress of the government's ambitious Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project.

He said pillars for the bullet train project have been put up on 61 km of the route and work is underway on around 150 km of the stretch and every month, more than 10 - 12 km of piers are being constructed, including bridges on rivers. "We are keeping the target of running the first bullet train between Surat and Bilimora in 2026. The progress is very good, and we are confident of running the train by that time," he said, during his visit to the site of the upcoming Surat High Speed Rail (HSR) station. He also inspected the casting yards at Surat and Navsari.

The project is aimed at running the bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai on a high speed rail (HSR) corridor at a speed of 320 kmph, covering a distance of 508 km over 12 stations. The train is expected to reduce the travel time between the two cities to about three hours from the current six hours. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is funding 81 per cent of project cost which is estimated at Rs 1.1 lakh crore.

Also read: 100 pc contract placed for civil, track work on Gujarat side of bullet train project: Ashwini Vaishnaw

Project status

Land acquisition status for the project
>> Gujarat: acquired 98.8%
>> Dadra Nagar Haveli: 100%
>> Maharashtra: acquired - 71.5% (Pvt. - 91.7% government - 92% Forest-Nil)

Stations and depots

>> Works on all 8 HSR stations from Vapi to Sabarmati are under various stages of construction
>> Surat depot - All 128 foundations have been completed
>> Sabarmati depot - Work has been awarded on February 4, earthwork is in progress
>> Passenger Terminal Hub at Sabarmati integrating HSR, Metro, BRT and two Indian Railways stations, is expected to be completed by August