Mumbai, May 24 -- The quiet of a sunny May afternoon at Antroli on the outskirts of Surat is broken by the metallic whirr of drilling. Standing deep amid lush green fields, is a rhombus-shaped structure-India's first bullet train station on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route that will be readied before year-end. The first 50 km trial run of the high-speed rail (HSR) project between Surat and Bilimora in Gujarat will commence early next year while the entire HSR route is expected to get operational by 2029.

On Tuesday the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) announced that the Rs.1.08 lakh crore project has reached "a significant construction milestone with the successful completion of 300 km of viaducts". "The achievement was ma...