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In what would mark a milestone in India's efforts to adopt a   Bullet Train system, the country will get its first high-speed train shipped from abroad this week. Spanish train-maker Talgo, globally known for lighter and faster trains, will on April 21 unload its Series-9 high-speed train on the Mumbai port. "The train, being shipped from Spain, had started its journey last week. It will touch base at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) port on April 21. From there, the train will be brought to Delhi for pre-trials on the Delhi-Palwal section before a full-fledged trial on the Delhi-Mumbai route, later this month," said a senior rail ministry official. Final trials were likely to be conducted next month before the Railway Board, which would take a final decision on commercial introduction. "The full train is arriving in a mostly assembled form," the official added. Talgo had in July 2015 stated its intention to ship its Series-9 train to India at ...

The Rs 90,000-crore Mumbai-Ahmedabad  Bullet Train  project has hit a hurdle as the Maharashtra government has categorically ruled out providing land in the tony commercial district of Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) for the proposed terminal. Instead, the government has asked the rail ministry to consider its own plots, currently vacant in Dadar, Kurla or Bandra terminus. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in a recent communication to Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu has conveyed the government’s inability to spare land, citing that the state undertaking Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) does not have adequate land. Further, the chief minister said, it would be a loss-making proposition commercially and financially for MMRDA, as it depends on sale of land to raise finances for costly infrastructure in Mumbai and the extended Mumbai Metropolitan Region. MMRDA is the authority for planning and development of BKC, spread over 370 hectares. BITE THE BULLET ...