India’s first bullet train is scheduled to launch on August 15, 2027, on the 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail corridor. The initial operational stretch will cover 97 km between Surat and Vapi in Gujarat. The project will feature indigenously manufactured “B28” trainsets capable of operating at speeds up to 280 km/h, with initial services running at around 250 km/h.
Do you see the disconnect between the narrative and what is promised? We are being sold an illusion. Big project, big kickbacks. The bullet train was to become operational in 2022. Now, the first 97 kilometres will hopefully be commissioned on 15 August 2027”just 97 kilometres; let that sink in. A train running at 250 km/h will cover the 97 km in 23 minutes. That is what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has to show for the bullet train project. The final run of the full length is going to be around 2033, a full 11 years after the scheduled date of 2022. And we are being sold a dream of these new routes. Incidentally, the small stretch will run trains manufactured in India and not imported from Japan, as was the initial plan. The Japanese company has declined to supply trainsets to India.
