A huge railway will see trains whizzing by at close to 200mph and connecting enormous cities.
A high-speed rail is being built from Mumbai to Ahmedabad in India, covering a distance of over 500km. Costing an estimated 1.1 lakh crore (£12billion), the incredible feat of engineering is expected to open in just a couple of years.
Trains on the line will be running at a speed of 320kmph on an elevated viaduct around 10-15m above the ground – except in Mumbai, where it will underground. It will even run under the sea, heading through Thane Creek for around 2km of the journey.
A large part of the funding reportedly comes from a 88,087 crore (£9.5billion) loan from Japan, which the Indian government will begin to repay 15 years after the line becomes operational.
It’s first section is expected to open in 2026.
Covering 12 stations all in all, the train will be able to carry 750 passengers across the 508km between the two cities in just a matter of two hours and seven minutes. Mumbai is the largest city in India with an estimated population of over 21million, while Ahmedabad has just under nine million.
A longer, full-service train which serves all the stops will take two hours and 57 minutes.
In an animated video shared online by India’s Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, several key features of the train were unveiled, including an earthquake detection system.
28 steel bridges, 24 river bridges, and seven mountain tunnels will be built to accommodate the train, as well as a 7km-long undersea tunnel for the Thane Creek portion.
12 new state-of-the-art railway stations will also be constructed as part of the Bullet Train corridor.
The train carriages will feature aircraft-like features, including LED lighting, overhead baggage racks, seat leg rests, reading lamps for Business and First Class, charging outlets, modernised toilets and wheelchair accessibility, the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) website states.
It also claims that 35 trains per day will run in each direction at a frequency of 20 minutes in peak hours, and 30 minutes in non-peak hours.
The number of bullet trains run by Indian Railways is expected to rise to 105 by the year 2050.
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