Shinzo Abe's visit to India | From Japan with love: Maruti in the 1980s, bullet train now

In the 1980s, Japanese firm Suzuki took a leap of faith with the Maruti joint venture, setting off a small-car revolution in India. Now, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project, funded by the Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA), is expected to revolutionise rail operations in India.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe will perform the groundbreaking ceremony for the ambitious Bullet train project at Sabarmati. The 508-km-long double line Bullet train will not only connect Mumbai and Ahmedabad, two cities with buzzing economies, but will also open new horizons in the country starved for mass transportation.

The Bullet train will cover the distance in two to three hours and the tickets are expected to be around Rs 3,000. The project became possible in India after Modi envisioned the same during a bullet train ride he took during his 2012 Japan tour as the CM of Gujarat.

According to a former industries secretary to the Gujarat government, Maheshwar Sahu, "Modi's presentations had won the hearts of government authorities and the business community in Japan. His visit had forged several business partnerships, the bullet train being one of them."

Divisional railway manager Dinesh Kumar said, "The Bullet train will pose major challenge to airlines, while the Indian Railways will not be affected much by the project as the two will complement each other."

The High Speed Rail Network Limited will be setting up a training and skill upgradation institute near Vadodara which will train 4,000 people over the next three years.

Gujarat Chief Secretary Dr JN Singh said, "The institute will train the staff not only for bullet train, it will also train 300 young officers in Japan which will give them exposure in high speed track technology."

"Keeping in view the long-term plan for human resource development, the Japanese government has offered serving Indian railway officials 20 seats per year for master's course in the universities of Japan, Singh added.

If all goes well, the Bullet train will run by December 2023. While the Japanese government will give Rs 88,000 crore for this project, in which Japan's share will be 81 per cent in the form of soft loans.

There will be 12 stations on the Bullet train route — Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad, Sabarmati. The 21-km tunnel, with 7-km under sea in Thane Creek, will be an added attraction.