INDIAN Railways (IR) has set August 2027 as the target date for the start of reliability, availability, maintainability and sustainability (Ramps) trials at speeds of up to 250km/h on the 100km Surat - Vapi section of the high-speed line under construction between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
According to railways minister, Ashwani Vaishnaw, revenue services will start in 2029 over the full length of the 508km Mumbai - Ahmedabad high-speed line, cutting the journey time to 1h 58min.
Although civil works are making progress and project company National High-Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL) has begun to award tracklaying contracts, disagreements between India and Japan, which is providing 80% of project funding, have led to delays and rising costs. As well as wanting India to order Shinkansen high-speed trains for the new line, Japan has been insisting on signalling based on leaky feeder cables.
India says it can source rolling stock from European manufacturers at approximately half the Rs 200bn ($US 2.23bn) price quoted by Japan for 49 10-car series E10 Shinkansen high-speed trains. IR has also fast-tracked domestic production of 250km/h 1435mm-gauge trains by state-owned Bharat Earth Movers (BEML).
Following the inspection of the high-speed station at Surat last week by India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, last week, BEML has been instructed to start deliveries by early 2027 with two prototype BEML trains set to be used for the Ramps trials between Surat and Vapi, according to project insiders. However, IRJ understands that Japan is still expecting testing to be conducted with the one series E3 and one series E5 Shinkansen high-speed train which it has donated to India.
IR has also expressed a preference for procuring ETCS Level 2 signalling for the new line on an open-source basis, but has been keeping its options open. In June NHSRCL awarded a Rs 41.4bn contract to a joint venture of DRA, Infracon and Siemens to supply signalling and telecommunications systems.
Siemens has reportedly assured IR that the signalling system is capable of incorporating leaky feeder should IR choose to adopt it, while the national operator is looking to procure interoperable, vendor-neutral onboard equipment for its 320km/h high-speed fleet.
However, IR’s intention to source equipment from European suppliers is likely to encounter resistance from Japan. As well as requiring certain items to be procured from Japanese suppliers, the funding agreement also stipulates that approval will be required from Japan for items sourced elsewhere.
Contractors on the project are already running into difficulty as Japan has declined to approve equipment imported from Europe. One company has reportedly suffered a loss estimated at Rs 500m as Japan has not approved components imported from Germany, and has held back from further procurement from Europe.
