Japan may pick up equity in Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project

Japan is likely to pick up an equity stake in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project.

Sources said that Japan has informally agreed to it. India is pushing Japan to take 10 per cent equity in the high-speed rail Shinkansen project between Ahmedabad and Mumbai in order to ensure that it has a long-term stake in the project, and not just be an equipment supplier.

Speaking at a conference, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal noted that Japan had agreed for low-cost financing, unlike other countries that have high-speed train technology.

India and Japan are also likely to sign the loan agreement of $12 billion, at a cost of 0.1 per cent, for a 50-year period including a 15-year moratorium.

While the right of way is under finalisation, land acquisition requirement will be low as most of the project will be elevated, with a 21-km tunnel and 7 km of under-sea tunnel.

The stretch will have 12 stations – Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad, Sabarmati. Of these, Mumbai will be an underground station.

With the travel time expected to shrink to 2.07 hours and 2.58 hours, against the present 7-8 hours, the project is expected to give airlines a run for their money.

While speaking on the bullet train, Goyal drew a parallel between the Shinkansen high-speed rail technology and Maruti-Suzuki, on which people had concerns initially. But the company went on to become one of the most reliable brands in the country.

Goyal added that Shinkansen technology can be exported from India and the cost of technology can rapidly decrease, as it happened in LED bulbs. India is also pushing for joint ventures between Japanese and Indian firms.

Sushant Kumar Mishra, Advisor-Infrastructure, Railway Board, said the agreement between the governments “enshrines” transfer of technology and ‘Make in India’ as a part of the project.

For the detail design of bridges, Japan has appointed a consortium of consultants led by Japan International Consortium for Transportation, Nippon Koie Group, and Oriental Structures, said a source.

The Maharashtra-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project has a ‘Make in India’ component, with the Japan External Trade Organisation coming out with a concept paper. Four sub-groups with representatives from Indian industry, Japanese industry, DIPP, and the National High Speed Rail Corporation have been formed and are looking at systems and sub-systems to push ‘Make in India’.

This will ensure that most of the amount invested in this project is spent and utilised within India. The sub-groups are in the areas of track, civil, rolling stock, electrical and signalling and telecom. “The decision to opt for the project and Japanese technology was taken after several deliberations of a committee headed by former NITI Aayog’s Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya,” said Mishra.

India will import 24 trainsets from Japan for the project, which is expected to go live by August 15, 2022. Japan had set a target to have the project up and running by December 2023.

The plan is to run 35 trains a day, with each train having two segments for travel. The trains will be move not just passengers, but also cold-chain products and horticultural produce.

The ground-breaking ceremony will take place at Sabarmati passenger terminal and Vadodara training institute in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on September 14.

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