The Gujarat government has begun an exercise to draft special town planning (TP) schemes around stations of the upcoming Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train. The objective is to ensure that the development near these stations aligns harmoniously with the surrounding areas.
The initial focus of this endeavour is on drafting fresh town planning schemes for the Sabarmati and Surat stations of the project, with plans to replicate similar schemes for other stations in Gujarat. A team of officials from the urban development department (UDD) recently visited Japan, where they studied the station patterns of operational bullet trains.
Currently, the land around the Sabarmati and Surat stations of the proposed project is either occupied by slum-dwellers or belongs to the railways.
The land around the stations will be redeveloped. Private players are likely to benefit from additional floor space index (FSI) advantages related to height. The bullet train stations will have an international look when the new TP schemes are implemented. The Ahmedabad-Mumbai high-speed rail project is currently underway. When completed, the country’s first bullet train will run between these two cities.
