NEW DELHI: India’s first indigenous bullet train, called B28, is taking shape at BEML’s ‘Aditya’ facility in Bengaluru.
Sharing the details on Sunday, the railway ministry said: “India is taking a major step towards indigenous high-speed rail technology with the Bharat-made bullet train. It is being manufactured for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor.”
Sources said the bullet train will be cheaper than the Japanese Shinkansen trains. “India was supposed to buy E5 Shinkansen sets. However, after high quotes and potential delays, the government decided to go Atmanirbhar. Japan will still give two Shinkansen sets (E5 and E3) free for testing.”
Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw inspected the BEML plant on Sunday and witnessed the ‘squeeze test’ — a critical safety assessment which includes applying controlled compressive/tensile forces on the train car body to assess its structural strength, rigidity and dimensional stability.
The B28 will have a maximum test speed of 280 km/h. It is expected to roll out by the year-end or early next year. The inaugural run is tentatively fixed for August 15, 2027 on the 97-km Surat–Vapi section.
The entire Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail corridor is scheduled for completion around 2029–30.
Bengaluru-Pune corridor next
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday hinted that the proposed Bengaluru-Pune bullet train corridor could be among the next set of high-speed rail projects.