Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train cost may rise to Rs 1.98 lakh crore due to delays

NEW DELHI : The cost of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Project has almost doubled to Rs 1.98 lakh crore, Satish Kumar, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Railway Board under the Ministry of Railways, said.

Chairman Railway Board Satish Kumar at the PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation) briefing here said that due to a delay for various reasons including land acquisition, the cost of construction has gone up.

Earlier, the Railway Ministry said that total Rs 85,801 crore spent till November end, 2025 and made 56.6 percent physical work progress.

The foundation stone for the project was laid in 2017 and the entire project was supposed to complete in December 2023. However, Railway Minister Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw earlier this week announced that the first stretch between Surat and Bilimora would be operational on August 15,2027. The entire 508 km long Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Corridor will be completed by the end of 2029.

Delay in construction mainly due to slow pace in land acquisition, finalization of rolling stocks and getting forest and environment clearances.

India’s first bullet train project envisages to reduce the travel time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad and is expected to take just 1 hour 58 minutes.

The high speed corridor covers 508 kilometres, covering 352 km in Gujarat and Dadra & Nagar Haveli, and 156 km in Maharashtra. The corridor will connect major cities including Sabarmati, Ahmedabad, Anand, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Bilimora, Vapi, Boisar, Virar, Thane, and Mumbai, marking a transformative step in India’s transportation infrastructure.

The 508 km corridor has an overall tunnel length of 27.4 km, of which 21 km comprises underground tunnels and 6.4 km surface tunnels. The project includes eight mountain tunnels, with seven tunnels in Maharashtra having a combined length of about 6.05 km, and one tunnel of 350 metres located in Gujarat.