MUMBAI, Feb. 3 -- The 50-km-long first phase of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) or bullet train between Bilimora and Surat is expected to be complete by the end of this year, while commercial operations will begin on the Vapi-Ahmedabad corridor by 2027. Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday provided these updates on the country's first bullet train before elaborating on the progress of the Mumbai-Pune High-Speed Rail (HSR), which is part of the seven new bullet train corridors finalised by the railway ministry. The 508-km-long Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor is divided into three phases: Bilimora-Surat, expected to be complete by December, Vapi-Ahmedabad by next year and the entire Mumbai BKC-Ahmedabad by 2028-29. On Tuesday morning, one of the tunnels will undergo a breakthrough at Palghar, said the minister. Earlier last month, a breakthrough was achieved in the nearly 1.5-km Mountain Tunnel-5 (MT-5) in Palghar district, located between the Virar and Boisar bullet train stations. The tunnel, one of the longest mountain tunnels in the district, was excavated from both ends and completed within 18 months using the drill-and-blast method. The process to procure E5 and E10 train sets from Shinkansen in Japan for testing in Indian conditions is also in process. Vaishnaw said that initially the bullet train would run at a gap of one to two hours. "Once the system stabilises, they can be operated every 15-20 minutes similar to the frequency on the Tokyo-Osaka corridor," he said, adding that the fares were expected to be "affordable". The 508-km MAHSR corridor includes a total tunnel length of 27.4 km, comprising 21 km of underground tunnels and 6.4 km of surface tunnels. The project features eight mountain tunnels, with seven located in Maharashtra, spanning about six kilometres, and one in Gujarat. The travel time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad will come down to just one hour and 58 minutes. Mumbai will get its second bullet train, connecting it to Pune. This is part of the seven new corridors planned in Phase 2, which includes Mumbai-Pune, Pune-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Bangalore, Hyderabad-Chennai, Chennai-Bangalore, Delhi-Varanasi and Varanasi-Siliguri. Based on the learnings from the implementation of Phase 1 (the Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR), these seven new routes have been identified and approved for detailed studies. "Maharashtra will get two new bullet train corridors," said Vaishnaw. "The HSR corridor between Mumbai and Pune will bring down travel time to 48 minutes while the second one will connect Pune and Hyderabad in 1 hour, 55 minutes. These two HSR corridors will connect the IT hubs." However, sources in the railways questioned the logic of choosing the alignment of the Mumbai-Pune HSR corridor in the Western Ghats. "This mountain range is very steep; besides, plus the commute time is only three hours or so, thus a bullet train corridor connecting Mumbai with Pune does not make sense," said an official. The seven proposed corridors under Phase 2 will cover 4,000 km of route with an approximate investment of Rs 16 lakh crore. As per plans, India will have a total HSR network of 7,000 km. The railway officials added that the process for procuring 238 AC local trains under MUTP is going as planned and tenders will be awarded very soon. The design of doors too are being worked out for creating improved oxygen supply inside the coaches. These trains could be extended up to 18 cars as well. In this year's Union budget, the railways in Maharashtra were allocated Rs 23,926 crore. Augmenting local trains to 15 cars is also underway on both Central and Western Railways. The expansion of Konkan Railway is also on cards. A detailed project report to study the doubling of Konkan Railway is at various stages of completion and approval. The rail officials said that the need to expand Konkan Railway had become crucial, given that it connects the coastal belt along multiple states....