India and Japan have agreed to carry out a joint feasibility study into building a new high-speed railway between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
Katsuo Matsumoto, Director South Asia Division Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and Girish Pillai, infrastructure adviser for India’s Ministry of Railways, signed an MoU on October 7 following an initial announcement in May.
The study, which will be jointly funded by India and Japan, will conduct traffic forecasts, explore suitable alignments and look at the different technology that could be utilised to build a 300-350 km/h railway.
The 500 kilometre route would run along India’s west coast and likely include connections in the cities of Vadodara and Surat.
India’s Public Information Bureau (PIB) stated that the study will take 18 months to complete.
