Construction on the ambitious 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor is moving at a fast pace, with foundation laid along 406 km of the line and track laying already in progress on 127 km of viaducts, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Parliament on Wednesday.
Informing the Lok Sabha of the project's status, the minister informed that overall milestones have been reached: piers built along 395 km, girder casting and launching done for over 300 km, and installation of overhead equipment masts for electrification already underway.
Out of the 12 proposed stations, foundation work has been finished at eight locations—Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Anand, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, and Sabarmati. In Maharashtra, foundation work is ongoing at Thane, Virar, and Boisar, while excavation at Mumbai’s BKC station is nearly complete and base slab casting has begun.
Good headway has been made on river bridges also. Sixteen have been constructed, and nearly five big bridges on the Narmada, Vishwamitri, Mahi, Tapti, and Sabarmati rivers in Gujarat are at advanced stages of construction. Four of them are under construction in Maharashtra. Work on the construction of depots at Thane, Surat, and Sabarmati is progressing in full swing. Although Gujarat has only one tunnel, the undersea tunnel about 21 km in length is at a working stage, and 4 km long Ghansoli–Shilphata tunnel in Maharashtra is completed.
The government spent ₹78,839 crore on the project till June 30, 2025, the minister stated, which has created widespread employment opportunities through direct construction activities as well as indirect supply of goods, materials, and services.
Vaishnaw warned, though, that "a bullet train project is very complex and technology-intensive," and realistic timelines and ultimate costs could be ascertained only after all civil works, track, electrical, signalling, telecommunication, and rolling stock supply are done.
He also assured that the whole 1,389.5 hectares of land needed for the project has been procured, statutory clearances for forests, CRZ, and wildlife obtained, and all civil contracts let. Out of 28 tender packages, 24 have been completed, and 1,651 utilities moved. Noise barriers are also being erected to minimize operational impact.
Clarifying a general misunderstanding, the minister explained Vande Bharat trains are semi-high-speed and for India's current broad-gauge electrified network, not for the bullet train project, which will run on Japanese Shinkansen technology. Presently, 150 Vande Bharat services are in operation, and production of 200 sleeper variants is ongoing under the Make in India drive to increase connectivity.
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