Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on 20 September, 2025 marked a key milestone in India’s first bullet train project by initiating the breakthrough of a 4.88 km-long tunnel between Shilphata and Ghansoli for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor.

The excavation, part of a 21 km underground stretch including a seven km section beneath Thane Creek, was carried out using the New Austrian Tunnel Method (NATM). Vaishnaw said the project’s first phase, the Surat-Bilimora section, will begin operations in December 2027, with extensions to Thane in 2028 and Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex by 2029.

Once operational, the bullet train will reduce Mumbai–Ahmedabad travel time from nine hours to just two hours and seven minutes, with frequent departures during peak hours. The NHSRCL confirmed that 321 km of viaduct, 398 km of piers, 17 river bridges, nine steel bridges, and over four lakh noise barriers have been completed. The completed tunnel will be a single-tube, twin-track structure with comprehensive safety systems and modern ventilation.