Pics Show Fleet Of ”Cutting-Edge” Machinery Being Used For India’s First Bullet Train

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor has been making steady progress since work began in November 2021. Now and then, the Railways Ministry shares several updates to keep followers up to date with the developments happening in the project. On Saturday, The National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), which is constructing the bullet train took to X to share the latest update on the ambitious project. NHSRCL shared several pictures of the cutting-edge machinery,  especially designed and manufactured as per Japanese specifications, which is being used for the bullet train. 

The fleet of machines includes a Rail feeder car, Track slab laying car, CAM laying car, and Flash butt welding machine, which will be used for track construction works. Notably, the assembly, testing and commissioning of these machines is in progress.

”Mechanized track installation with cutting edge machinery for Bullet Train project,” the tweet by NHSRCL read. 

See the pictures here:

Mechanized track installation with cutting edge machinery for Bullet Train project ?? pic.twitter.com/OvZdDs8q6i

— NHSRCL (@nhsrcl) May 4, 2024

”Taking the initiative under Make-in-India (MII), some of the machines are now being manufactured in India also. More than 35,000 MT of JIS rails and three sets (03) of track construction machinery have been received for the project,” another tweet by NHSRCL read. 

As per a press release, the bullet train project will have a J-Slab track system based on the Japanese Shinkansen track system. This is for the first time, the J-slab ballastless track system is being used in India. Progress on the track laying front in Gujarat is also progressing well with over 35,000 metric tons of rails already delivered to key locations like Surat and Vadodara.

Assisting in this process is the Flash butt welding machine (FBWM) which is responsible for welding 25-meter-long, 60-kilogram rails into 200-meter-long panels. Further, the Track slab laying car (SLC) streamlines the laying process and is capable of transporting five slabs at a time. The rail feeder car and Cement Asphalt Mortar Injection Car further aid in the final stages of the construction process. 

Covering a distance of 508 km between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the bullet train is expected to achieve a maximum speed of 320 km per hour, reducing travel time to just 2 hours. It will start from Mumbai and terminate at Sabarmati after covering ten stations namely Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand and Ahmedabad.

Notably, the Railways will run 35 bullet trains when it starts operations, with about 70 trips per day. It plans to increase the number to 105 trains by 2050. Around 1.6 crore people are expected to travel by train every year when operations begin.

The projected cost is an estimated ₹ 1.08 lakh crore, of which the Centre is committed to providing ₹ 10,000 crore, while Gujarat and Maharashtra will contribute ₹ 5,000 crore each. The remaining funding will be secured through a loan from Japan – at a minimal 0.1 per cent interest rate.