Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asked the Central government to give priority to the proposal for a bullet train link between Ahmedabad and Mumbai and include the same in the forthcoming Railway Budget. He was speaking at the unveiling of Bombardier’s Movia metro car in Savli, Vadodara.

“The bullet train will help the speedy development of Gujarat. If the two cities develop together, the development will be faster. The bullet train has now become a necessity for the two cities,” said Modi.

He said the manner in which population is increasing in the big cities and travel time in cities like Mumbai is going up by two to three hours, “a speedy mass transport system is the only solution” adding that rail transport is environment-friendly.

“The pollution percentage with regard to surface transport is 84 per cent due to vehicular traffic, 15 per cent due to aircraft and only 1 per cent for rail transport,” he said.