A significant milestone in the history of Railways has been added when land documents for high speed rail terminal at BKC were handed over by Shri U.P.S. Madan, Commissioner, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to Shri AchalKhare, Managing Director, National High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd in the august presence of Shri DevendraFadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra and PiyushGoyal, Minister of Railways and Coal, Govt. of India at Heritage Hall, Ground Floor of ChhatrapatiShivajiMaharaj Terminus building on 27.2.2018.Shri RajenGohain, Minister of State for Railways, Govt. of India, Dr. ShubhashBhamre, Minister of State for Defence, Govt. of India and Mr. Ryoji Noda, Counsel General of Japan were present on the occasion.It is pertinent to note that the handing over of documents for the high speed terminal was done at the very place from where first train began its journey in India on 16.4.1853.Mumbai High Speed Rail terminal of India's first bullet train project from Mumbai to Ahmedabad will be located at BKC Ground. This will be an underground station at about 25 metre depth, built in 3 levels and will be integrated with IFSC building proposed to be constructed above it. Mumbai HSR terminal at this proposed location will benefit the public at large, as the station is located in central business district with Mumbai metro station at a walking distance.
The distance of airport from this terminal will be about 5 km and the existing Bandra railway station of Western Railway will be about 3 km. It is expected that this high speed rail project will bring development to satellite towns of Boisar and Virar, as high speed train will offer commuting option to the public of this area to go to Mumbai.Travel Time from Boisar, Virar and Thane to Mumbai will be drastically reduced. People from Boisar would be able to reach Mumbai in 39 minutes whereas travel time from Virar and Thane would be 24 minutes and 10 minutes respectively.With the active cooperation of State Government, it is expected that the land acquisition for project would completed soon.Later, the Chief Minister, Minister of Railways and Coal Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Railways, Minister of State for Defence and other dignitaries travelled by a slow local from ChhatrapatiShivajiMaharaj Terminus to Parel for the opening ceremony of foot over bridges (FOB) constructed by Indian Army at Elphinstone Road, Currey Road and Ambivali by Mumbaikars.