Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will lay the foundation stone for India’s first bullet train in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state this week, in a tightening of ties just days after New Delhi ended a dangerous military confrontation with China.
NEW DELHI/TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will lay the foundation stone for India’s first bullet train in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state this week, in a tightening of ties just days after New Delhi ended a dangerous military confrontation with China.
The move by Abe, who starts a two-day visit to India on Wednesday, highlights an early lead for Japan in a sector where the Chinese have also been trying to secure a foothold, but without much success.
Modi has made the 500km-long high-speed rail link between the financial hub of Mumbai and the industrial city of Ahmedabad in western Gujarat a centrepiece of his efforts to showcase India’s ability to build cutting-edge infrastructure.
The leaders will launch the start of work on the line on Thursday, India’s railways ministry said in a statement.
“This technology will revolutionise and transform the transport sector, ” said Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, welcoming the prospects for growth brought by Japan’s high-speed “shinkansen” technology.
In Tokyo, a Japanese foreign ministry official told reporters, “We would like to support ‘Make in India’ as much as possible, ” referring to Modi’s signature policy to lure investors in manufacturing.
