The Ministry of Railways is working toward an August 2027 start for B28 high-speed train service on the 97-kilometer Surat–Vapi section, with the timetable dependent on corridor work and delivery of the trainsets.
The target comes as a trainset undergoes structural testing at BEML’s Bengaluru facility. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw inspected the site on Nov. 1, and a ministry video showed a squeeze test underway. In the video, Vaishnaw said, “around the train, a vacuum gets created” at very high speeds.
Parliamentary material places the first train’s expected readiness in Q1 2027. The ministry’s target for service the following August depends on completing civil structures, track, electrical systems, signaling and telecommunications work, as well as supplying the trainsets.
Integral Coach Factory awarded BEML a contract for two eight-car trainsets in October 2024. BEML is responsible for their design, manufacture and commissioning. The order was valued at ₹866.87 crore, the company said. It includes development work and tooling and testing facilities that BEML said could support later high-speed rail projects.
BEML’s 2026 tender identifies the train as B28 and lists a design speed of 280 km/h and a maximum operational speed of 249 km/h. The company’s 2024 release had cited 280 km/h as the trainsets’ test speed.
The trains are being developed for the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project. Parliament described the corridor as 508 kilometers long and said it was approved in 2015. The 97-kilometer Surat–Vapi section is the planned initial service segment within that larger project.
The schedules concern different milestones: BEML’s 2024 release set an end-of-2026 delivery target for the trainsets, while the ministry later projected readiness of the first train in Q1 2027. The documents do not reconcile the timelines. The ministry’s August 2027 service target remains dependent on the listed corridor work and trainset supply.
