May 31, 2025 - India’s first bullet train has begun its trial in Japan, marking a key milestone in India’s journey to launching its first high-speed rail line. The test runs will include preparing for harsh Indian conditions like heat, dust and speed and gathering data.

Japan will be gifting India two Shinkansen train sets - one each from the E5 and E3 series - for initial inspection and performance testing as part of a pact inked in 2016 between the two countries to cooperate on the high-speed rail project. These trains will be delivered to India in early 2026 and here they will undergo rigorous testing under domestic terrain and climate conditions.

The bullet trains, designed to run at speeds of up to 320 km/hour, will run on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai corridor.

The trial trains are equipped with sophisticated inspection systems to collect data that will inform future operations of the bullet train corridor. As per reports, the critical data is expected to guide India in its eventual production of the next-generation E10 series Shinkansen trains under the Make in India initiative.

The 508-kilometre MAHSR corridor, developed by the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), is expected to cut travel time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad to just 2 hours and 7 minutes. The route will feature 12 stations, including Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Sura  and Vadodara.

With Media Inputs