India is preparing to enter the era of high-speed rail with the launch of its first bullet train scheduled for August 15, 2027, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has announced. The flagship project, being developed in partnership with Japan, is expected to transform long-distance rail travel in the country.
The Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor will be opened in phases. The first operational stretch will run between Surat and Bilimora, followed by the Vapi–Surat section. Subsequent phases will connect Vapi to Ahmedabad, then Thane to Ahmedabad, before the entire Mumbai–Ahmedabad route becomes fully operational. According to the minister, “The bullet train will be ready on August 15, 2027.”
Spanning 508 kilometers, the corridor is being built to support train speeds of up to 320 kmph. Construction is progressing steadily, with major work completed on viaducts, bridges, tunnels, and stations. Officials confirmed that nearly 320 kilometers of viaduct construction has already been finished, while land acquisition, tunneling, electrification, and station development are advancing simultaneously.
The project will feature 12 stations, with Sabarmati serving as the terminal in Gujarat and Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) as the Mumbai terminal. Three maintenance depots are also under construction. The corridor passes through Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
A major milestone was achieved recently with the completion of the first mountain tunnel on the Mumbai–Ahmedabad bullet train route. The project blends Japan’s globally acclaimed Shinkansen technology with Indian engineering expertise. Full-scale operations across the entire corridor are expected by 2029.
Once operational, the bullet train is expected to cut travel time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad to under two hours.
In addition to the bullet train update, the railway minister also announced that India’s first Vande Bharat sleeper train is set to be launched, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi likely to inaugurate the service in the second half of January 2026. Adding a light-hearted remark on the bullet train’s progress, the minister said passengers could “buy a ticket now itself,” as services are expected to begin in 2027.
