December 29, 2025: India’s first high-speed rail corridor is steadily moving from vision to reality, with fresh government data indicating significant progress on the Mumbai–Ahmedabad bullet train project. According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s (MoSPI) monthly project monitoring flash report for November, the 508-km corridor has achieved over 55% physical completion, reflecting strong momentum across construction packages.
The ambitious project is being tracked under MoSPI’s Project Assessment Infrastructure Monitoring and Analytics for Nation Building (PAIMANA) portal, which monitors major national infrastructure initiatives. As per the report, cumulative expenditure on the high-speed rail corridor has crossed ₹84,200 crore so far, against an estimated total project cost of approximately ₹1.08 lakh crore upon completion.
Providing a timeline update earlier this month, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that India’s first bullet train will commence its inaugural run on a 100-km stretch between Surat and Vapi in August 2027, as reported by The New Indian Express. This segment forms part of the larger Mumbai–Ahmedabad high-speed corridor, which is targeted for full operations by 2029.
Highlighting the transformational impact on intercity travel, Vaishnaw said the corridor will significantly reduce travel time between the two financial and industrial hubs. “A significant milestone is that the bullet train will cover the distance between Ahmedabad and Mumbai in just 1 hour 58 minutes upon the completion of the high-speed rail corridor. The inaugural run in August 2027 will cover 100 km between Surat and Vapi,” Vaishnaw said.
Trains on the corridor are designed to operate at speeds of up to 320 kmph. With only four stops, the Mumbai–Ahmedabad journey will take 1 hour 58 minutes, while stopping at all 12 stations will extend the travel time to 2 hours 17 minutes. “The bullet train will cover the distance between Mumbai and Ahmedabad in 1 hour 58 minutes with four stops. However, if it halts at all 12 stations, the total journey time will be 2 hours 17 minutes,” Vaishnaw said.
The minister added that the entire corridor is expected to be completed by December 2029.
Source: Swarajya
