New Delhi, 05 March (H.S.): The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) on Thursday dismissed swirling speculations on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor's costs, funding, and fares as misleading, asserting that many circulating claims are factually inaccurate.The statement follows a Congress Kerala unit's X post alleging the project's cost had ballooned from an initial ₹1.1 lakh crore to ₹1.98 lakh crore—halfway through—with a potential final figure exceeding ₹2.5 lakh crore. It further claimed an extra ₹90,000 crore burden on Indian Railways (unfunded by JICA), implying century-long recovery at 7-8% borrowing rates, and fares surging from ₹3,000 to ₹6,000-7,000.
NHSRCL clarified the revised cost aligns with global norms, drawn up nearly a decade ago in the project's infancy; standard practice updates estimates post-detailed design, engineering, land acquisition, and tender finalization—as seen in India's highways, metros, and airports. The India-Japan funding pact remains robust via concessional sovereign loans at low interest and long tenures, with no basis for funding fears; NHSRCL, a dedicated SPV backed by central and state governments, bears implementation sans direct Railway load.
High-speed corridors yield multifaceted gains—time savings, productivity boosts, reduced air-highway traffic, regional growth, tech transfer, and domestic manufacturing—beyond mere financial returns. Fare speculations lack factual grounding.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
