INDIA: Bullet Train,India To Get $ 12 bn Project With Japan

A Rs 98,000-crore project to lay India's first bullet train network between commercial nerve centre of Mumbai and Ahmedabad was today finalised at the annual summit talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

"No less historic is our decision to introduce High Speed Rail on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector through Japan's Shinkansen, known for its speed, reliability and safety," Modi said at a joint media event with Abe.

He also greatly appreciated Abe's extraordinary package of approximately USD 12 billion (approx Rs 98,000 crore) and technical assistance, on very easy terms, for this project

The bullet train network will link India's financial hub Mumbai with Ahmedabad, the capital of Modi's home state Gujarat. Bullet train between the two cities will cut travel time on the 505-kilometre route from eight hours to around three.

"This enterprise will launch a revolution in Indian railways and speed up India's journey into the future. It will become an engine of economic transformation in India," Modi said.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said Japan will provide 80 per cent of the funds for the project at 0.1 per cent interest rate for a period of 50 years.

INDONESIA: Construction Of High Speed Train Halted

Indonesia plans to build a high-speed rail link between the capital Jakarta and second city Surabaya, despite scrapping a shorter line, according to a presidential palace statement released on Friday.

Indonesia abruptly cancelled late on Thursday plans to build a high-speed railway from Jakarta to the closer textile town of Bandung, inviting bids instead for a medium-speed railway between the two cities.

"At this time, the government is preparing to develop a high-speed train from Jakarta to Surabaya and a rail network outside Java," the presidential office said in a statement.

China and Japan had been engaged in an unprecedented bidding war for the multi-billion dollar project in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, but were left confused after it was pulled in what appeared to be the latest in a series of regulatory flip-flops under President Joko Widodo.