India’s first bullet train project — the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail corridor — is moving ahead rapidly in 2026. The project is being built by NHSRCL with Japanese Shinkansen technology.

Latest major updates

Project progress

Around 55–60% of the overall work is reportedly complete.

The full corridor length is 508 km with 12 stations between Mumbai and Sabarmati/Ahmedabad.

Land acquisition and statutory clearances are now fully completed.

Underground tunnel milestone

A huge breakthrough happened in Mumbai:

India’s largest Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) have started work for the underground section.

The line includes India’s first undersea rail tunnel beneath Thane Creek.

Bullet train first look revealed

Today, Indian Railways officially revealed the first visual design of India’s bullet train for the Mumbai–Ahmedabad route.

Expected speed & travel time

The train is expected to:

Run at up to 320 km/h

Reduce Mumbai–Ahmedabad travel time to about 2 hours 7 minutes for limited-stop services.

Indigenous Indian bullet train

India is also developing its own high-speed trainset called the B28.

Prototype rollout target: April 2027

Designed for Indian weather and operating conditions.

Route overview

Major stations planned:

Mumbai (BKC)

Thane

Virar

Boisar

Vapi

Surat

Vadodara

Ahmedabad

Sabarmati and others.

When will it start?

A partial Gujarat section (possibly Surat–Bilimora/Vapi) may open first around 2027.

Full Mumbai–Ahmedabad operations are still expected closer to 2029–2030, though timelines may shift depending on tunneling and station completion.

Official project page

NHSRCL Project Overview

The Mumbai–Ahmedabad Bullet Train project was originally approved in 2015 at about ₹1.08 lakh crore (around ₹1,08,000 crore).

However, due to:

delays,

inflation,

land acquisition costs,

underground/undersea tunneling,

taxes and utility shifting,

and upgraded indigenous train systems,

the revised estimate in 2026 has risen to around ₹1.98 lakh crore (nearly ₹2 trillion).

Budget comparison

Stage Estimated Cost

Original approval (2015) ~₹1.08 lakh crore Revised estimate (2026) ~₹1.98 lakh crore

That’s roughly an 83% increase over the original estimate.

Who is funding it?

Most of the funding comes from Japan through a very low-interest loan:

About 81% financed by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

Interest rate is extremely low (around 0.1% for major portions)

Repayment period is about 50 years.

Biggest cost drivers

According to railway committee reports, major increases came from:

Taxes & cess → ~₹29,330 crore

Inflation → ~₹19,084 crore

Land & rehabilitation → ~₹16,695 crore

Indigenous rolling stock & signalling → ~₹16,500 crore.