(ET)
India will purchase 18 bullet train sets from Japan at a total cost of about Rs 7,000 crore in a deal that includes a pledge to transfer technology for local production, an official said. The country’s first bullet train is likely to start running between Mumbai and Ahmedabad by the end of 2022. The 508-km, high speed train corridor is being built with Japanese assistance.
“We’ll be getting 18 Shinkansen train sets from Japan,” said the official cited above. “Each train will have 10 coaches and would be able to cruise at the speed of 350 km per hour.” Japanese manufacturers will participate in a tender that will be floated soon to procure the high-speed trains. They will follow the Japan Railways design. The official said Japanese bullet trains are among the safest in the world and those imported will have automatic protection systems to ensure safety.
