Bullet train project: Maharashtra mulls alternatives as MMRDA refuses to provide land.

Not wanting to lose out on the prestigious bullet train project, the Maharashtra government is scouting for new land in Mumbai for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project.

This was after the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) expressed inability to part with a 10-hectare plot in suburban Mumbai.

The Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project is a part of an ambitious plan of the Prime Minister of connecting major metros and upcoming urban centres with nine rail corridors with semi-high speed (150 to 200 km/h) and high speed trains (300 km/h).

A senior Minister in Maharashtra Government said that since MMRDA was unable to provide land in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), other sites such as land adjoining Bandra and Kurla Terminus and Goregaon Railway Station are being studied.

But there are some slums around the Bandra Terminus, which will have to be relocated. A review meeting for these sites would be held in a few weeks, the Minister said.

Given the interest of the Prime Minister in the project, a small monitoring cell could also be open in the State Secretariat, the Minister added.


HBL