Japan to help build India’s first bullet train

Will slash journey times between Mumbai and Ahmedabad

NEW DELHI: Japan will build India’s first bullet train under a sweeping tally of agreements made following talks in New Delhi, deepening a partnership Prime Minister Narendra Modi said would “shape the course of Asia”.

The Indian premier spoke warmly of his friendship with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as well as pointing to the power of their political alliance, after signing deals including the $15 billion Shinkansen train.

Both Modi and Abe are right-wing nationalists and economic reformers who have forged an unusually close relationship since the Indian leader came to power last year, partly to counter China’s growing influence.

“I cannot think of a strategic partnership that can exercise a more profound influence on shaping the course of Asia and our interlinked ocean regions more than ours,” the Indian prime minister said after the talks.

“Our remarkable relationship also has a wonderful human touch.”

The leaders of Japan and India, Asia’s second and third-largest economies, promised to use their alliance to push areas of mutual interest including reform of the UN Security Council, on which both are seeking permanent seats. And they agreed a memorandum of understanding on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, which will be signed once technical details have been finalised.

The long-mooted agreement is expected to allow Japan to export nuclear plant technologies to the subcontinent.

The announcements came after Abe lavished praise on Modi’s 18-month-old premiership following a meeting with business leaders in the capital.

“Prime Minister Modi’s economic policies are like Shinkansen - high speed, safe and reliable while carrying many people along,” he said.

The most eye-catching deal was the new bullet train which will slash journey times between the Indian cities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad, reportedly from eight hours to about two hours.

Modi has pledged to overhaul India’s ramshackle railways and other infrastructure as part of his ambitious economic reform drive.

“This enterprise will launch a revolution in Indian railways and speed up India’s journey into the future,” Modi said of the deal. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2015.

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