Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw today announced the successful breakthrough of the second mountain of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) project in Palghar of Maharashtra. This marks a key milestone in the country’s ambitious bullet train corridor. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Vaishnaw informed that the breakthrough of the second mountain tunnel in Palghar has been achieved in a month, with the first breakthrough happening on 2nd January this year.

The Minister added that a viaduct of 334 kilometres and pier construction for 417 kilometres have been completed in the project. He also hailed the entire team for working at a good pace, saying that the entire world is witnessing India’s first high-speed rail project. The Minister also lauded the announcement of seven new high-speed rail corridors in the Union Budget 2026-27. Mr Vaishnaw said that the Delhi-Varanasi high-speed rail corridor will reduce travel time to three hours fifty minutes between both the cities.

He added that Varanasi-Silliguri corridor will cater to the traffic from the northeast and reduce the travel time to two hours fifty five minutes. Mr Vaishnaw also informed that the Pune to Hyderabad high speed rail corridor will reduce travel time to one hour fifty five minutes between the two cities. He added that that Chennai-Bengaluru corridor will reduce journey time to one hour 13 minutes while Chennai-Hyderabad corridor will reduce journey time to two hours fifty five minutes.

Highlighting the new Dedicated Freight Corridor proposed in the budget between Dankuni in West Bengal and Surat in Gujarat, the Minister said that it will connect the Vadhvan port in Maharashtra to state’s hinterlands including Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh. Mr Vaishnaw added that the East-West corridor will pass through Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.