NEW DELHI: Indian Railways on Saturday did not rule out the possibility of commencing the operation of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet Train between Ahmedabad to Vapi in Gujarat in the first phase, if land availability in Maharashtra gets delayed further.
Responding to a question on whether the government would start operation in two phases, railway Board CEO and chairman, V K Yadav said they are keen to start the service on the entire stretch. “The Maharashtra government has assured us to make more than 80% land available in the next four months...We are also preparing whether we can run the train in the first phase between Ahmedabad and Vapi (325 km), if there is a delay in getting the land in Maharashtra due to any reason. But all these decisions will be taken when we have clarity about land availability in Maharashtra,” he said.
TOI on November 26 had reported how Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked the railways to complete the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project at least on the Gujarat portion in time, if the land issues don’t get resolved for the stretch falling in Maharashtra.
According to the minutes of Pragati meeting chaired by Modi on November 25, Maharashtra government has been directed to handover the land required in Thane and Vikhroli urgently and balance land by April 30, 2021. Railway and environment ministries and Maharashtra government have been instructed to expeditiously process the proposal of forest clearance.
The land acquisition in Maharashtra portion so far has been around 23%.
Railways to adopt indigenous system to prevent collision
Railway Board chief V K Yadav told reporters on Saturday that they have decided to adopt indigenous train collision avoidance system (TCAS) in line with ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ vision. This means the national transporter won’t go for the European Train Control System (ETCS) technology. Earlier, it had planned to carry out a pilot run on 600 km across the country. The railway PSU, Railtel had floated tenders for this pilot run. Yadav said the TCAS will be installed along the freight dense routes by March 2024 and across the entire network by 2030.
Yadav also said the railways will meet its operating expenditure from its earnings despite the coronavirus pandemic. He said several expenditure-control measures and freight revenue earnings will help compensate for the losses in the passenger segment. The railways’ passenger revenue has come down to just Rs 4,600 crore this year compared to Rs 53,000 crore last year. But the revenue from freight is set to more than last year. “We have almost surpassed both freight loading and freight revenue of last year. So, this year’s freight revenue would be more than last year’s”, he said.