Railways gets 'green signal' from Gujarat, Maharashtra for bullet train project

"Requisite Wildlife, Forestry and Coastal Regulation Zone clearances in the state of Gujarat and Maharashtra have been obtained," Railway Board said.

The Indian Railways on Tuesday said it has got all required wildlife, forestry and coastal regulation zone clearances in Gujarat and Maharashtra for Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project.

"Requisite Wildlife, Forestry and Coastal Regulation Zone clearances in the state of Gujarat and Maharashtra have been obtained for High-Speed Rail Corridor, Railway Board Chairman and Chief Executive Officer V K Yadav said.

On the progress of the project, he said Railways has got 67% of the land required for the Bullet train project. In Gujarat, a total of 825 hectares out of 956 hectares have been acquired, which is 86%.

In Maharashtra, the 97 hectares out of the 432 hectares of land has been acquired, which is only 22% of the total land required. In Dadra and Nagar Haveli, total 7 hectares out of eight-hectare land has been acquired, he said.

Out of 1,651 utilities, 1,070 have been shifted for the project, he said. Tenders worth Rs 32,000 crore have been floated for the project covering 325 km length of the viaduct and five stations, Yadav said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then Japan's Premier Shinzo Abe had on September 14, 2017, laid the foundation stone for the Rs 1.08 lakh crore ($17 billion) project. The initial deadline to complete the ambitious project was December 2023.

On the progress of the Dedicated Freight Corridor, Yadav said that by June 2022 the DFC will be complete.