A HIGH-POWERED joint committee of India and Japan has plans to operationalise a bullet train that will travel underwater.

The 508-kilometer train will travel between Mumbai and Ahmadabad, and will have a 21 kilometer stretch under the sea.

The project has been undertaken by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Japan has also offered India a concessional loan to fund 81 percent of the project.

According to a report by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A), the train will have to ferry 88,000-118,000 passengers a day, or undertake 100 trips daily to keep the project financially viable.

The project is expected to begin construction in 2018, and is similar to the new Japanese bullet train (shinkansen) running from Tokyo to Hakodate.

The new railway service will mark India’s first bullet train, and will cut the trip from Mumbai to Ahmadabad from seven hours to two.

Source: travelwireasia.com