Mumbai residents will have to wait over four more years to ride India’s first bullet train, as the completion of the ambitious Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) project has now been pushed to December 2029.
Initially launched in 2017, the high-profile infrastructure project was envisioned to transform travel between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, reducing journey time from over six hours to just around two.
According to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Gujarat segment of the corridor—from Vapi to Sabarmati—is expected to be completed by December 2027. The remaining stretch, including the critical Maharashtra portion, is now slated for completion by the end of 2029.
Sources revealed that out of 28 tender packages, 24 have already been awarded. Construction progress includes 392 km of pier work, 329 km of girder casting, and 308 km of girder launching completed as of now.
The total cost of the project stands at approximately Rs 1.08 lakh crore. The bulk of the funding—around Rs 88,000 crore or 81%—comes from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), with the remaining Rs 20,000 crore funded through equity contributions from the Ministry of Railways (50%), and the state governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat (25% each). So far, Rs 78,839 crore has been spent on the project as of June 30.
Delays in land acquisition, particularly in Maharashtra, had stalled progress until 2021. However, land acquisition is now complete, with the full 1,389.5 hectares secured for the Mumbai Ahemdabad Bullet Train project.
According to sources, bullet train will run on cutting-edge Shinkansen technology from Japan and will reach speeds of up to 320 km/h, covering a total distance of approximately 508 km. Once completed, it will mark a new era in India’s rail travel, introducing the country’s first high-speed rail corridor.
