In the recently concluded Monsoon session of Parliament, Railway Minister of India Ashwini Vaishnaw clarified that India’s bullet train project is designed for Japanese Shinkansen trains. “Bullet train project is designed for Japanese Shinkansen trains,” Vaishnaw said in a written reply in Lok Sabha on August 20, 2025.

He further emphasised that the project is highly complex and involves advanced technology. The minister was responding to questions raised by TMC MP Rachna Banerjee.

The country’s first bullet train will run on the 508-km-long Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor. The MAHSR project is passing through the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Union Territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli with 12 stations planned at Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Billimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad and Sabarmati.

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project is under execution with technical and financial assistance from Government of Japan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday travelled to Sendai from Tokyo in a bullet train. He was accompanied by his Japanese counterpart Shigeru Ishiba. The Prime Minister landed in Tokyo on Friday on a two-day visit.

On Friday, in an interview with the Japanese daily The Yomiuri Shimbun, PM Modi stated that the government has unveiled an ambition to expand the high-speed rail network in the country.

““While the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project is on its way, we have unveiled a bigger ambition: to have a 7,000-kilometer-long network of high-speed rail in our country,” he told The Yomiuri Shimbun.

The Prime Minister added that the government aims to commence passenger operations on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor within the next few years.

“The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project is a flagship project between India and Japan. We are aiming to have the passenger services start in a few years’ time,” PM Modi told The Yomiuri Shimbun.-Agencies