Full coverage: Modi, Abe kick off India's first bullet train but several hurdles remain

Is the bullet train financially viable? BS decodes

Today's Paper : Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on Thursday laid the foundation stone for the proposed Ahmedabad-Mumbai High-Speed Rail Network, commonly known as the bullet train, in the Gujarat city.

"My good friend Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a far-sighted leader. He took a decision two years ago to bring high-speed train in India and to create a new India," he said.

35 trains a day: India to get its first bullet train by 2022
The Centre is confident of starting the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train on August 15, 2022, to commemorate the 75th year of India's Independence, a year ahead of its schedule.Initially, the route is expected to have 35 trains per day. This might increase to 105 by 2050. Read all the details here.

However, land acquisition could be a major hurdle for the project
Acquiring 825 hectares of land may become a major hurdle for the completing the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project by 2022.Experts said advancing the project’s deadline by a year to August 2022 may not be feasible considering the complex land acquisition process involved. Of the Rs 1.10 lakh crore investment required for the project, Japan is providing Rs 88,000 crore as a soft loan at 0.01 per cent interest. However, release of the Japanese funding is linked to land acquisition.

And is the travel on a bullet train really affordable?
Though the fare structure for Rs 1.10 lakh crore is yet to be finalised, the initial estimates suggest that the high-speed rail fares are likely to be 1.5 times the existing first class AC train tickets. The current fare of AC first class on Ahmedabad-Mumbai route is in the range of Rs 1,700-2,300, while flight tickets start from Rs 2,000 onwards. This means a traveller will have to pay much more than existing flight ticket prices to travel on bullet trains. Read more here

Is the project economically and financially viable?
In an otherwise investment starved economy, this is an example of routing low-cost surplus capital available globally to build infrastructure in the country. Similar to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation becoming a consultant to metro rail projects across the country, if successful, this project could play a similar role for HSR. Gaining experience of under-sea tunnels and advanced signalling technology could be added benefits, writes Neelkanth Mishra. Read his analysis here where he also debates if there will be 15 million passengers a year willing to travel in a train at the targeted Rs 2,500-3,000 ticket price? (READMORE)