The Indian Railways on Saturday said that the timeline of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai high-speed rail corridor will need to be reassessed due to COVID-19 pandemic.

โ€œThe real timeframe for its completion can be provided only within the next three to six months,โ€ railway board chairman and CEO VK Yadav said on Saturday.

โ€œIn any linear project like the bullet train project, work can only begin when a certain amount of land is available,โ€ Yadav said while addressing the media.

โ€œWithin three months we are expecting to acquire 95-100 per cent land in Gujarat,โ€ he further said

โ€œIn Maharashtra also we are expecting that in next three to six months the land acquisition will improve a lot and that is why I am mentioning that once the land acquisition is clear the tenders for the civil work and we will start the physical work,โ€ Yadav further added.

โ€œSo that will be the appropriate time to reassess project implementation time,โ€ he added.

It may be mentioned here that so far 63 per cent of land has been acquired for the project and the project has a deadline of December 2023.