The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (Bullet train) Project has a total length of 508 km, out of which about 350 km is in the State of Gujarat. Out of the 12 stations, eight stations are located in Gujarat. These eight stations include Sabarmati, Kalupur, Nadiad, Vadodara, Bharuch, Bilimora and Vapi. The construction of railway infrastructure is being implemented by National High Speed Rail Corp. Ltd. (NHSRCL). In the cities where these stations are located, the areas within the distance of 1-2 km from the High Speed Railway station shall have a high degree of impact for urban development. These areas need to be taken up for high quality town planning. A 15 member expert team from JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) led by Mr. Akimura is closely working with town planners from Gujarat and sharing knowledge regarding the town planning practices around bullet train stations in Japan.
In this regard, as a part of series of activities undertaken in the Urban Development Year-2025, a visualization seminar was organized on 7th October 2025 at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar. Senior officials from Urban Development Department, Govt. Of Gujarat, Ministry of Housing and Urban affairs (MoHUA), Railway Land Development Authority, NHSRCL, private sector representatives from CREDAI, leading academicians and town planners attended the seminar. A series of presentations were made by JICA Expert Team and by the town planners from AUDA and SUDA regarding the future town planning around bullet train stations in Sabarmati (Ahmedabad) and Surat. Shri M. Thennarasan, IAS, Principal Secretary, UDD encouraged all the participants to understand Japanese practices of town planning in great details. He also encouraged all the stakeholders to discussed in detail the role of town planning, public transportation, intermodal integration, development regulations and close collaboration between various stakeholders to achieve high quality urban development in the station areas on the same lines as it is done in the cities in Japan.
