Targeting to run first bullet train in August 2026: Ashwini Vaishnaw

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The government has set a target to run the first bullet train in August of 2026, Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Minister of Railways of India said on March 14.

"First foundation pier for the bullet train was laid in August 2021 and 154 kms of bullet train’s piers have already been made in a short time frame of 1.5 years. Project is moving forward at fast pace,” the minister said at the CII Partnership Summit being held in Delhi.

“We have a target to run the first bullet train in August 2026 and open it up to a larger section by August 2027,” he added.

The project was facing some challenges in Maharashtra, the minister said, adding, “the issues were taken care of when the government changed. Everything is moving as per plan now.”

The project had seen delays due to the slow pace of land acquisition in Maharashtra during the MVA government under Udhav Thackeray and delay in tendering of works in the stretch falling under the state.

Stressing on the need for a comprehensive rail network in the country, the minister said that railways make a huge difference in transportation costs.

“With more share in railways, logistics cost will dramatically come down. For a very long period of 4-5 decades, investment in railways was very small. It picked up after 2013. Since then it has increased from 40,000 crore to 2.41 lakh crore in the current budget,” he said.

He insisted that the government is working on changing passenger experience and has been upgrading its facilities.

“We are adding 1275 new stations in the country, work has already started on about 100 of them. Stations too are being developed with newer, modern designs,” he added.

The government is working with new design of trains and new passenger experiences. “An example would be Vande Bharat whose noise levels inside are 100 times less than noise levels inside an airplane,” he said.

To secure payment risks in contracts with private sectors, the government has decided that if payment in railway contracts is not done within 30 days of invoice, government will pay interest on the amount, the minister said.

The focus is to increase the railways carrying capacity significantly, to Make in India, design in India by using our talent pool, he added.