AHMEDABAD: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will break ground on India's first bullet train project+ on Thursday in western Gujarat state, as the country seeks faster travel for millions.
PM Modi has pledged to invest billions of dollars to modernise India's creaking railway system, with the bullet train one of his key election promises ahead of his landslide victory in 2014.
The train will reduce the travel time between the two cities from eight to three-3.5 hours, and is expected to complete by December 2023. It will have a capacity of 750 passengers.
India's traditional railway network is the world's fourth largest by distance and remains the vast country's main form of travel, with 22 million passengers commuting daily.