Railway Ministry worried about high cost of bullet train

The Railway Ministry is worried about the high cost of bullet train project proposed on Ahmedabad-Mumbai route. The officials are also finding other terms and conditions of the loan difficult.

“Though Japan will give us a soft loan, the interest will be high because the exchange rate of Yen to Rupee has been in their favour- Rupee has always been weaker in comparison to Yen,” a top official told Deccan Herald.

The bullet train project is a 508-km railway line costing Rs 97,636 crore. It is to be implemented over a period of seven years. The soft loan at 0.1 per cent interest will have a moratorium period of 15 years and a repayment period of 50 years. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed last December.

He also said that the standard gauge of the track also pose  problems as we would be completely dependent on Japan for the supply of rail as our tracks are broad gauge.