India-Japan meeting on bullet train next month

The first meeting of the high-powered joint committee of India and Japan to operationalise the bullet train project is likely to be held in the far eastern country on May 15.

The meeting will consider both the technical and financial aspects of the project.  The Indian side will be represented by Railway Board Chairman A K Mittal, vice-chairman of NITI Aayog Arvind Panagariya, and the finance secretary.

The current finance secretary Ratan Watal is likely to retire by then and economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das is tipped to replace him.  The proposed bullet train will run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

According to a recent report by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A), it will have to ferry 88,000-118,000 passengers a day, or undertake 100 trips daly, for the Railways to keep the project financially viable. Japan has offered a concessional loan of Rs 97,636 crore to fund 80 per cent of the project cost.