Ashwini Vaishnaw virtually witnesses final bullet train tunnel breakthrough in Maharahstra's Palghar

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday virtually witnessed the final breakthrough of a 1.5-km-long mountain tunnel of the bullet train project in Maharashtra's Palghar district from Rail Bhawan in New Delhi.

"This 1.5-km-long mountain tunnel is among the longest in Palghar district and is located between the Virar and Boisar bullet train stations. It is the second tunnel breakthrough in Maharashtra, as the first 5-km-long underground tunnel between Thane and BKC was completed in September 2025," a Railway Ministry press note said.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hon’ble MR Shri <a href="https://twitter.com/AshwiniVaishnaw?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AshwiniVaishnaw</a> echoed “Bharat Mata ki Jai” in unison, marking the breakthrough of Maharashtra’s first mountain tunnel (MT-5) in Palghar district on the Nation’s first <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BulletTrain?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BulletTrain</a> project. <a href="https://t.co/VNoWOibv8W">pic.twitter.com/VNoWOibv8W</a></p>&mdash; Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) <a href="https://twitter.com/RailMinIndia/status/2006977576934514899?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 2, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail project, which passes through Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, is India's only high-speed rail project designed to operate bullet trains at a speed of 320 kmph, covering the entire distance in 2 hours and 17 minutes.

The project is being executed with technical and financial assistance from the Japanese government.