Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train to run via Nashik.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has agreed to fund the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project in which Nashik will be a part of the route. The journey would get a little longer but would bring vast benefits to Nashik, which today is three hours away from the city by road. The city, Nashik and Pune form an important industrial triangle. The bullet train corridor will also pass through Surat and Dang district of Gujarat, helping strengthen business activity. Another important infrastructure project got a boost when an agreement was signed between chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and JICA recently on the Mumbai Trans-Harbour link to connect Sewri in the city to Nhava Sheva on the mainland. As JICA assured Fadnavis it will fast-track the funding for the Rs. 11000 crore MTHL, work on the 22 km oversea bridge should begin early next year after the launch of a bidding process in December. JICA agreed to offer a long-range loan for the mega project at an interest rate of 1.75%. For Metro III, or the Colaba-Bandra-Airport-SEEPZ line, the Japanese agency had already agreed to extend funding. JICA has already proposed to start public consultations on the Metro next week. "Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has proposed that the bullet train from Ahmedabad to Mumbai should go via Nashik, to which JICA, the funding agency for capital-intensive projects, has agreed," a CMO official said.