India to get its first bullet train in 2018

India is getting its first bullet train, reports India's The Economic Times, which will link up Mumbai with Ahmedabad and include a stint below sea level.

The trip between the two cities will take two hours using the new train, with a maximum speed of 350kmh. Currently, the country's Duronto Express links the two financial cities in around seven hours.

As part of the 508km-long corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, a 21km tunnel will go under the sea.

Japan has agreed to loan 81% of the funding for the project, with a signature on the loan agreement slated for the end of the year and construction planned to begin by the end of 2018.

According to a report by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, the new bullet train will have to take 100 trips per day in order to be financially viable.

(THE STAR ONLINE)