The Centre is confident of starting the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train on August 15, 2022 to commemorate the 75th year of India’s Independence, a year ahead of its schedule, a senior official of the railway ministry said on Monday.

The official, who in-charge of the bullet train project, said that while the deadline to launch the train will remain 2023, the railways is focused to start it keeping in view the Independence Day celebrations in 2022.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said that the scheduled date of starting the bullet train is 2023, according to the Japanese. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes that Indian engineers have the capability and our workers have the efficiency to complete it a year earlier,” he told reporters.

“When the Prime Minister lays the foundation stone for the project on September 14, it will also mark the beginning of the project,” Mr Goyal said, adding that the venue of the foundation laying ceremony will be the passenger terminal for the bullet train.

He further said that it was the goodwill of the PM that was instrumental in India getting such cheap loan from Japan for the bullet train.

The 508-km-long Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed rail Project (Standard Gauge) is estimated to cost Rs. 1,10,000 crore on completion.

Out of the Rs. 1,10,000 crore, Japan is giving a loan of Rs. 88,000 crore. The interest on this loan is minimal at 0.1 per cent and it is to be repaid in 50 years, with a grace period of 15 years.

Mr Goyal said that the project is expected to provide 12-15 lakh jobs. Around 20,000 in construction, 4,000 direct jobs for running the system and around 20,000 indirect jobs.

“I think for such low expenditure we are not only getting this huge system, but also modern technology which will provide lakhs of jobs in India. With this technology, industry will get a big boost.

“Then eventually, India will make cheaper bullet trains and export it to the world. So going ahead, India will be part of the international standards in transport technology,” he added.

While covering the 508-km stretch between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the train will stop at 10 stations — Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand and Sabarmati.

The railway official said the train would take 2 hours and 58 minutes to cover the distance if it took 10 halts, adding that with two halts — at Surat and Vadodara — the travelling time would come down to two hours and seven minutes.

Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), the special purpose vehicle created for implementing the metro rail project in Chennai, is likely to take up the feasibility study for a metro rail project in Coimbatore.

Sources said it was decided at a high-level meeting in Chennai a few days ago that the State government would ask the CMRL to conduct the study and prepare a detailed project report.

The feasibility study would take about three months and the detailed project report about nine months.

The move follows Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s announcement in the Assembly that the Coimbatore city would get metro rail.

Preliminary discussions centred around having metro rail along arterial roads and studying various stretches for about 120 km, the sources said.

The arterial roads could be Avinashi Road, Trichy Road and Mettupalayam Road.

Discussions were also held about whether metro should cover the entire stretch or combining it with mono rail or bus rapid transit system.

The sources, however, pointed out that things were in a very preliminary stage. Only after completing the feasibility study and preparing the detailed project report would a clear picture emerge about the route, cost, pattern of funding and establishment of a special purpose vehicle.

Citing Kochi as an example, many politicians and activists have been saying that the city missed the bus when the Centre announced the scheme more than seven years ago.

The issue cropped up again when Kochi opened its first stretch recently.

Over 2,000 families residing along the Pathankot-Jogindernagar railway line between Nurpur and Jogindernagar have been spending sleepless night following orders of the Himachal Pradesh High Court directing railway authorities to check illegal construction and submit report before September 19.The railway authorities have issued notices to such persons, treating their houses under the category of illegal construction. They have submitted a list of 2,238 illegal buildings to the HC. The final decision will be taken on September 19 when senior officers of the Railways, including the chairman of the Railway Board, would appear in court.

Information gathered revealed that most of the houses had been constructed on private land even before the rail track was laid in 1929. They were never served any notice. Even the railway authorities have earlier admitted in an affidavit filed before the court that there was no illegal construction along the Pathankot-Jogindernagar rail track except in 19 cases, in which proceedings were pending in different courts in Himachal and Ferozepur.

Twelve persons of Thakurdwara village in the outskirts of Palampur town, who had also received notices, told The Tribune that their houses were constructed 60 years ago. They said these were away from the track. That time, the railway authorities never termed their houses as illegal.

However, after the HC orders, these structures may face demolition any time. Recently, a resident of Palampur filed a PIL before the High Court, seeking action against illegal construction along national highways and rail lines. Thereafter, the court directed the railway authorities to submit the status report regarding the illegal construction or encroachment on the land belonging to the Railways between Pathankot and Jogindernagar.

The affected parties today appealed to Chief Minister Virbhadhra Singh to come for their rescue and save their houses from demolition. They said their houses were never a hurdle for the rail line.

The world’s oldest steam engine today successfully completed a “heritage run” between two railway stations here with a single coach, drawing huge crowds along the route.

The Heritage Special Locomotive EIR-21 was run from the Egmore to Kodambakkam railway stations in the city, covering two stations in between. It drew huge crowds along the route, the Southern Railway said in a release.

This was the sixth heritage run for EIR-21, which is similar to the Fairy Queen, another steam engine, in appearance.

The first run had taken place on August 15, 2010. The locomotive had run between the Chennai Central and Avadi railway stations as part of Independence Day celebrations that year.

Built in 1855, the steam engine had been kept as an exhibit at the Jamalpur Locomotive Workshop and then at the Howrah station in West Bengal after it was withdrawn from service in 1909.

Several parts of the locomotive got rusted or went missing while some were found broken. After its revival, the engine went on its first heritage run in 2010.

The EIR-21 can adapt to various technological developments and is equipped with a GPS-based speedometer, the release said.

A rail journey between Nagpur and Hyderabad may take a mere three hours down from the nine that most trains take now if a plan is put into action. The railways have drawn a blueprint for a semi-high speed corridor linking the two commercial hubs, a senior official said.

“The ministry has initiated a joint feasibility and implementation study with Russian Railways to chalk out details after which it will be sent to the Railway Board for approval,” the senior ministry official said.

The railways planned to cash in on the fact that at present there were no direct flights between the two cities. A flight with a stopover could take four hours or more.

Currently, the 584-km stretch is covered by the Railways at an average speed of 60km/hr in a minimum of nine hours.

The railways is planning to run the trains at a speed of 160-200km/hr by strengthening the existing tracks and fencing off the route to complete the journey in less than three hours.

Semi-high speed trains can gather a maximum speed of 200 km/hr, while faster ones in the category of high-speed or bullet trains can run at 250-350 km/hr.

The Delhi-Chandigarh corridor, one of the busiest routes in north India, is slated to be the first semi-high speed project being taken up by the Railways with French help. It will enable trains to run at a maximum speed of 200km/hr.

A Japanese civic group teamed up with a railway operator on Sunday to let some 30 cats roam on a local train at an event, hoping it will raise awareness of the culling of stray cats.

Passengers on a local train in Ogaki, in central Japan, were greeted by meowing companions on a moving train, where some passengers mingled with the felines while others enjoyed lunch.

“I think it’s great more people are aware about stray kittens through events like this,” said Mikiko Hayashi, a passenger from western Japan, who owns two cats that were strays. The event was hosted by Yoro Railway Co Ltd and a non-governmental organisation called Kitten Cafe Sanctuary.

The number of cats in Japan admitted to shelters has dropped by around 70 percent to 72,624 in 2016 from 237,246 in 2004. That has reduced the number of cats culled from 238,929 in 2004 to 45,574 in 2016. The cat population in Japan is around 9.8 million.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will lay the foundation stone for the proposed Ahmedabad-Mumbai High Speed Rail Network, commonly known as the bullet train, on September 14 in the Gujarat city, railway officials said today.

The bullet train, which has a capacity to accommodate 750 people, is expected to reduce travel time between the two cities from seven to three hours.

The train will stop at each of the 12 railway stations on the route, but only for 165 seconds. A 21-km-long tunnel will be dug between Boisar and Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, of which seven kilometers will be under water.

The entire line will be at an elevation of around 20 meters which will reduce land acquisition.

After the laying of the foundation stone, an investment summit will also be held between the Indian side and a Japanese delegation comprising representatives from Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur, who hit a stunning 171 not out in the recent women’s cricket World Cup propelling India into the finals, has been promoted as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Western Railway. Kaur was serving as the chief office superintendent of the Western Railway (WR) in Mumbai since May 2014 and has now been promoted as OSD-Sports. “In recognition of her outstanding performance in the recently concluded ICC Women’s World Cup, the railway ministry has granted Kaur an out-of-turn promotion in gazetted rank group-B as Officer on Special Duty (OSD)-Sports in the Western Railway,” a senior spokesperson of WR said.

She was given the promotion on September 7, he said, adding that whenever railway players excel at the international level, they are felicitated and promoted.

Western Railway’s General Manager A K Gupta and Senior Deputy General Manager Raj Kumar Lal, who is also the president of Western Railway Sports Association, congratulated Kaur on her achievements and also on her promotion.

“She (Kaur) is an inspiration to all sports persons, especially women,” Gupta said.

Kaur, with her big hitting abilities, made her India debut against Pakistan in 2009.

The 28-year-old right-handed batter hit an unbeaten 171 off just 115 balls in the semi-final match to knock out the then reigning champions Australia from the tournament which was played in England in July. However, India lost the finals to England.

After her excellent performance, the then railway minister Suresh Prabhu had on July 27 announced a cash reward of Rs 1.30 crore for 10 members of the Indian women’s cricket team, employed with Indian Railways.

He also announced promotions for all members of the team, including for captain Mithali Raj to a gazetted officer rank.

Japanese firm Mitsui Co. Ltd. has won the bid to supply 10,600 metric tonne of Head Hardened Rails (HH-Rail) for the track work of the 37-km-long Phase-1 of the Ahmedabad metro-rail project at the cost of Rs 59.32 crore.

“Mitsui has been selected from a group of five bidders which included Voestalpine, Jindal Steel, British Steel, East Metals,” said IP Gautam, Managing Director of Metro-Link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGA) Company Ltd which is constructing the Rs.10,700 crore Phase-I of the project.

Mitsui is the first Japanese firm to win a bid out of the 27 contracts that have been awarded.

The tender notice for procurement of the HH-rail was published on July 8, 2016 and the tender was awarded on June 15.

According to metrorail officials, the 1,080 grade HH-rail being procured for Ahmedabad metro has greater durability than the normal rail of 880 grade. The use of 1,080 grade HH-rail will dispense frequent rail checks on main lines.

“We will be using the HH-rail only for laying the metro tracks, while normal rail will be used in the depots,” an official added. Two depots — one at Apparel Park on the East West Corridor and the other at Gyaspur on the North-South Corridor is being built.

The Track Management System (TMS) is not just meant to give information, but also solutions. Central Railway (CR) officials conceded that this system is being inefficiently used. In times of a disaster such as the floods on August 29, TMS can ideally do a lot more.

The CR authorities agreed that despite spending crores of rupees on a software system meant to augment the overall operations of smooth functioning of trains, the system was only providing updates on movement of trains. The main objective of TMS is to maximise the benefits of material, equipment and manpower inputs made to track and to optimise the life and utilisation of assets without impairing the safety and passenger comfort by ensuring the optimum standards of track geometry by web enabling the existing manual system of track inspection.

On September 1, it was reported how the CR’s TMS software failed to live up to their expectations on August 29, when the city’s suburban rail network was paralysed due to heavy rains.

Sources said that this system can do miracles if used to its optimum and if it is upgraded. TMS Application is used for Asset Management, Rail & Weld Fracture, Track Monitoring by Machines, Maintenance by Machines & USFD Testing, Engineering Control-Caution Orders and Traffic Blocks, Track Renewal & Deep screening, Ballast Supply and Insertion, Patrolling & Accidents Reporting. “It can identify and automatically inform the shortest alternative routes, diversions during rail accidents immediately, plan rail timetable where services can be used efficiently and even allow communication between all motormen/guard plying in times of disaster,” said a CR official.

The officials said that a few months ago they had also discussed the need to upgrade their TMS, but it was ditched on the grounds that it would incur additional cost. A whopping Rs 32 crore has been spent on installing this TMS.

Hardware/System Software Infrastructure is built over IBM Power Systems for RISC Architecture, SAN, Tivoli Back Solution, Tivoli Directory Server, WebSphere Application Server, DB2 database, Edge Component, WebServer, Lotus Expeditor, Lotus Mobile Connect. 2340 number of Netbooks has been delivered in 28 IR divisions for TMS application by CRIS. The Disaster Recovery Site has been set up at IRICEN Pune for recovery of data in case of disaster which is an important feature in TMS. Currently TMS has been implemented on entire Indian Railways.

On August 29, TMS proved to be of little use as the control room could not even inform the motormen and guards about the status of stranded trains carrying thousands of commuters.

The CR installed the TMS at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) to monitor and keep an eye on train-running in the suburban section.