In a historic step towards transforming India’s railway infrastructure, the first-ever Shinkansen bullet trains — part of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) project — have entered trial phase in Japan. This development marks a key milestone in India’s journey to launching its first high-speed rail line.
As part of a strategic Indo-Japanese partnership, Japan will gift two Shinkansen train sets — one each from the E5 and E3 series — for initial inspection and performance testing. These trains, designed to run at speeds up to 320 km/h, will be delivered to India in early 2026. Once in India, they will undergo rigorous testing under domestic terrain and climate conditions.
🚨 India’s first-ever bullet train, Shinkansen, is undergoing trials in Japan. pic.twitter.com/k4hf82Vepb
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The trial trains are equipped with sophisticated inspection systems to measure driving conditions, temperature resilience, and dust resistance — critical data that will inform future operations of the bullet train corridor. According to The Japan Times, this data will also help guide India’s 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), will drastically 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, Surat, and Vadodara, integrating Japan’s globally respected standards of rail safety and reliability.
India and Japan signed an agreement in 2016 to cooperate on the high-speed rail project, which is being largely funded through low-interest yen loans from Japan, covering about 80% of the project cost.
Beyond speed, the bullet train project promises wide-ranging benefits — from job creation and technology transfer to boosting tourism and trade between two major economic centres. Once operational, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor is expected to usher in a new era of high-speed, high-efficiency public transport in India.