From 'diamond' in Surat to 'mango' in Bilimora, bullet train work picks speed

The quiet of a sunny May afternoon at Antroli on the outskirts of Surat is broken by the metallic whirr of drilling.

- Shashank Rao

MUMBAI: Standing deep amid lush green fields, is a rhombus-shaped structure—India's first bullet train station on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route that will be readied before year-end. The first 50km trial run of the high-speed rail (HSR) project between Surat and Bilimora in Gujarat will commence early next year while the entire HSR route is expected to get operational by 2029.

On Tuesday the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) announced that the 1.08 lakh crore project has reached "a significant construction milestone with the successful completion of 300 km of viaducts". "The achievement was marked by the launching of a 40m long full-span box girder near Surat, Gujarat," said a press release. A viaduct is the girder between two pillars and on which the high-speed rail tracks will be laid, 383km of foundational pillars have already been laid on the 508km route between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Earlier this month, HT travelled along the route to report on the progress of one of India's most ambitious infra projects. All 12 stations on the bullet train route have been designed thematically to mirror local specialities. The rhombus at Surat—India's largest diamond polishing centre—for instance, resembles an uncut diamond, said an NHSRCL official who asked not to be named. The next station at Bilimora is designed like a mango in a hat tip to the town's famous alphonso and kesar orchards. Likewise, closer to Mumbai, the station at Virar is being built with curvatures that are being likened to the undulations of the Satpura ranges.