Mumbai Ahmedabad Bullet Train Gets Boost as Longest Mountain Tunnel Nears Completion

India's first bullet train project has crossed a major construction milestone with the completion of a key mountain tunnel in Maharashtra's Palghar district. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw confirmed that Mountain Tunnel 5 of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train corridor has been successfully completed, bringing the project closer to reality.

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project includes seven mountain tunnels and one undersea tunnel, making it one of the most technically complex railway projects ever undertaken in India. The Palghar tunnel is the longest and first completed mountain tunnel among the seven planned in Maharashtra.

How long is the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train route

The bullet train corridor will cover a total distance of 508 kilometres. Out of this, 156 kilometres lie in Maharashtra, while 352 kilometres pass through Gujarat and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

Tunnels account for 27.4 kilometres of the route. Around 21 kilometres are underground, while 6.4 kilometres are surface tunnels. Maharashtra alone has seven mountain tunnels, with a combined length of just over 6 kilometres.

Details of the Palghar mountain tunnel

The newly completed Mountain Tunnel 5 in Palghar measures 1.48 kilometres, or 1.39 kilometres excluding tunnel entrances. It is the longest mountain tunnel in the Maharashtra section of the project and marks a crucial phase in construction through difficult terrain.

Earlier, in September 2025, the project completed its first underground tunnel of nearly five kilometres between Thane and Bandra Kurla Complex, another important breakthrough for the bullet train network.

Bullet train stations between Mumbai and Ahmedabad

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train will have 12 stations. Bandra Kurla Complex will serve as the Mumbai terminal, while Sabarmati will be the terminal station in Gujarat.

The stations along the route include:

Sabarmati, Ahmedabad, Anand, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Bilimora, Vapi, Boisar, Virar, Thane and Mumbai.

The project will also have three depots, more than usual for a corridor of this length, to support operations and maintenance.

New bridge construction updates

In another recent update, the project completed the launch of a 130 metre steel bridge span over National Highway 64 and the Bharuch-Dahej freight rail line in Gujarat. The bridge was assembled using advanced engineering techniques and launched within 12 hours with controlled traffic diversions to avoid major disruption.

The bridge weighs nearly 2,800 metric tonnes and has been designed for a 100 year service life, meeting international safety and durability standards.

How much work is completed so far

To reduce land acquisition and improve safety, nearly 85 percent of the bullet train route is being built on elevated viaducts. So far, 326 kilometres of viaduct construction has been completed. In addition, 17 out of 25 planned river bridges are already in place.

When will the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train start

Once operational, the bullet train is expected to reduce travel time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad to around two hours. The project is expected to improve connectivity, boost business travel, promote tourism and drive economic growth along the corridor.

With major tunnelling and bridge milestones now being achieved, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project is steadily moving closer to becoming India's first operational high speed rail corridor.