Russian Rail company RZD has expressed keen interest for the proposed Rajkot-Ahmedabad semi-high speed railway project in Gujarat. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani held a meeting in this regard in Gandhinagar yesterday with Consul General of Russian Federation in Mumbai Aleksei Surovtsev and Russian government’s public arm Russian Railways RZD International’s Vladimir Finov among others.
“RZD International expressed its interest in participating in the project as it presents the tremendous potential for economic and all-round development of the two areas,” the release quoted Russian officials as saying.
The detailed report on the semi high-speed railway project between Rajkot and Ahmedabad, a distance of around 230 kms, is being prepared by the Gujarat Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (G-RIDE), a Special Purporse Vehicle (SPV) formed from the joint venture between the Ministry of Railways and the Gujarat government.
“The Russia Railway company would like to go ahead with the project’s detailed engineering design, project execution and complete finance after consultation with Gujarat and Indian governments,” the release said.
The RZD has made DPR for 580 kilometer Nagpur-Sicunderabad high speed railway. It has also completed a 625 kilometer high speed railway project connecting St Peterzberg to Moscow. Russian representatives assured the government that the company will complete the project within six years of design preparation.
Rupani said this high-speed railway project would be vital in reducing heavy traffic load on Rajkot-Ahmedabad road and cutting down the travel time.
RZD International had entered into an MoU with the Ministry of Railways for modernisation of railways and the singaling system. In Gujarat too, it is eager to work with G-Ride Company for this semi high-speed rail project, it said.
Vladimir Finov also expressed the desire of RZD International to contribute to new projects in increasing rail connectivity for freight corridors from ports as well as to increase existing speed of passenger rail and freight trains, the release stated.
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