The Indian government has officially broken ground on the most ambitious infrastructure project in the nation’s history โ a $100 billion high-speed rail network connecting 40 major cities across the subcontinent. The network will feature 7,500 km of dedicated high-speed tracks, with trains operating at up to 320 km/h, transforming intercity travel for hundreds of millions of Indians.
The first corridor, the MumbaiโAhmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR), is already under construction with Japanese Shinkansen E5 technology and is scheduled to open by 2026. The new announcements extend the network south to Chennai and Bengaluru, east to Kolkata, and north to DelhiโChandigarh and DelhiโAmritsar.
The project is expected to create over 3 million direct and indirect jobs during construction, and will be partly funded through a combination of sovereign bonds, Japanese JICA loans, and private investment through a public-private partnership model.
