India's first bullet train project stuck due to pandemic

India's first bullet train project is being stuck due to impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple media reports said Saturday quoting Indian Railways officials.

The 508-km High Speed Rail Corridor from Mumbai to Ahmedabad in the western state of Gujarat has got stuck due to low participation from Japanese companies, who had to cancel tenders due to steep rates quoted by bidders, said a report by Indian Express newspaper.

The newspaper said that the Indian side now expects the project to be commissioned fully by October 2028, instead of the original timeline of December 2023.

The rail corridor project is being constructed with an 80 percent loan from Japan at 0.1 percent interest and a 15-year moratorium, with the system to be built mostly with Japanese technology on the lines of the Shinkansen.

The on-going COVID-19 crisis had been a deterrent for opening of nine civil work tenders that were floated last year, said a Mint news report quoting officials.

"We cannot say how the pandemic will affect the project and how long it will last," said the Mint news report quoting the project implementing agency National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited's managing director, Achal Khare.

The rail corridor will pass through three districts of India's western state of Maharashtra and eight districts in the western state of Gujarat.