Latest news with #High-Speed
Hindustan Times
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Hindustan Times
Bullet train project: Key milestones achieved at Gujarat's Vapi station
The structural works at the key Vapi station in Gujarat along the 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor, popularly known as the bullet train project, have achieved key milestones, with the completion of rail platform level slab casting and structural steel installation, the implementing agency said. The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), which is implementing the project using Japanese Shinkansen technology, said roof sheeting and electrical installations were in progress. In a statement, it added that the station's approach viaduct toward Ahmedabad is ready, and work on that towards Mumbai was going on. The NHSRCL said the Vapi station in Dungra village will have a 28,917 square metres built-up area, rise to around 22 metres, and have amenities such as a business class lounge. The station is about seven km from the Vapi railway junction, 7.5 km from the bus station, and five km from an industrial area. It will be one of 12 stations—Mumbai (Bandra Kurla Complex), Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand/Nadiad, Ahmedabad, and Sabarmati— along the bullet train corridor. The project's first phase, covering the 348-km Gujarat stretch, is expected to be operational by 2027. A trial run on a 50-km section between Surat and Bilimora, with the arrival of Shinkansen E3 and E5 series train sets from Japan, designed to run up to 320 km per hour, is expected in early 2026. The full corridor is expected to be completed by 2028 and reduce travel time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad by almost half to under three hours. One train service will halt at all stations (two hours 58 minutes), and another will have limited stops (about two hours seven minutes). In its latest update, the NHSRCL said 304 km of viaduct and 388 km of pier work have been completed across the project. Fourteen river bridges, seven steel bridges, and five pre-stressed concrete bridges were ready. Around 163 km of track bed construction has also been finished. The ambitious Japanese-backed project has faced escalating costs, and a major part of the spending has been on infrastructure building. The Japan International Cooperation Agency is funding the construction of the high-speed rail line. In September 2024, HT reported that the first Shinkansen E5 bullet train meant to ply at speeds up to 320 km per hour will take at least two years to arrive from Japan, as the Indian railways were in talks with its Japanese counterparts to finalise a schedule for supplying the trains. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the project three years before the work began in 2020. The project, spanning Maharashtra (155.76 km), Gujarat (384.04 km), and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (4.3 km), was scheduled to be completed by 2023. Protests against land acquisition delayed the project. In March 2024, the NHSRCL said all civil contracts have been awarded in Gujarat and Maharashtra. The laying of the first reinforced concrete track bed for the MAHSR corridor track system, as used in Japanese Shinkansen bullet trains, started in Surat and Anand. This was the first time the J-slab ballastless track system was used in India. The NHSRCL said it achieved a remarkable milestone with the completion of the first 350-metre-long and 12.6-meter-wide mountain tunnel in Gujarat's Valsad district in just 10 months. The first steel bridge spanning 70 metres and weighing 673 MT has been built across National Highway 53 in Gujarat's Surat. In March 2024, the NHSRCL announced the commencement of the work for India's first seven-kilometre undersea rail tunnel as part of a 21-km-long tunnel between BKC and Shilphata in Maharashtra. Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who visited Japan last year to sort out issues delaying the project, in February 2024 announced that a 50km stretch between Surat to Bilimoria is expected to open in August 2026.
Express Tribune
15-05-2025
- Automotive
- Express Tribune
Govt keeps petrol price unchanged, HSD reduced by Rs2 per litre
The federal government on Thursday decided to keep the price of petrol unchanged at Rs252.63 per litre for the next fortnight, despite a decline in international petroleum rates. The move comes as part of a decision to transfer the potential consumer relief to oil refineries, marketing companies, and dealers instead. However, the price of High-Speed Diesel (HSD) has been reduced by Rs2, bringing it down from Rs256.64 to Rs254.64 per litre, according to a notification issued by the Finance Division. The new prices are effective from May 16, 2025. The decision was made on the recommendation of OGRA and relevant ministries.
Maroc
25-04-2025
- Business
- Maroc
New Kenitra-Marrakech High-Speed Rail Line, Project of Major Socio-Economic Significance
The Kenitra-Marrakech High-Speed Rail Line, launched on Thursday by His Majesty King Mohammed VI, is a project of considerable economic and social importance that will further enhance the national transportation system. This new Line forms part of the ongoing expansion of the Kingdom's rail infrastructure under the impetus of HM the King. Building on the success of Al-Boraq, it confirms high-speed rail as the most efficient and sustainable mode of passenger transport over medium and long distances, with numerous positive impacts. With this new project, travel times will be significantly reduced: 1 hour between Tangier and Rabat, 1 hour 15 minutes between Casablanca and Marrakech, 1 hour 40 minutes between Tangier and Casablanca and between Rabat and Marrakech, and just 2 hours 40 minutes between Tangier and Marrakech, a time saving of over two hours. The project will also connect Rabat to Casablanca Airport in just 35 minutes and will serve the future Benslimane stadium. A high-speed service is also planned between Fez and Marrakech, with a travel time of 3 hours 40 minutes. The future High-Speed Rail Line will serve 59% of the national population and link economic regions accounting for more than 67% of the national GDP. It will also create thousands of direct and indirect jobs and stimulate various sectors, including industry, services, and tourism. Extending the High-Speed Rail Line to Marrakech will enhance the city's tourism appeal by improving access from the north. By directly connecting Tangier, Morocco's maritime gateway, to Marrakech, the Kingdom's premier tourist destination, this line will boost both domestic and international tourist flows while providing a faster, more comfortable, and modern travel experience. It will also support regional planning and development by strengthening connections between major economic hubs, while promoting environmental sustainability in line with national development goals, through a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The Kenitra-Marrakech High Speed Rail Line extension will free up capacity on the conventional network, enabling the development of a major local metropolitan train service to meet part of the public transport needs of the inhabitants of the Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakech conurbations. This new service is a genuine response to the challenges of urban mobility in these three metropolitan areas, and offers a number of advantages in terms of punctuality, service quality and sustainability. As an innovative solution, the High-Speed Rail Line is a natural choice that reinforces the momentum of the national transport sector in supporting the Kingdom's economic and social development. MAP: 25 avril 2025
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Palantir's Pricey Multiple in Focus as Pentagon Budget Cuts Loom
(Bloomberg) -- Last week's rout in Palantir Technologies Inc. shares has done little to convince skeptics that it's suddenly a bargain. Trump Targets $128 Billion California High-Speed Rail Project Trump Asserts Power Over NYC, Proclaims 'Long Live the King' Trump to Halt NY Congestion Pricing by Terminating Approval Airbnb Billionaire Offers Pre-Fab Homes for LA Fire Victims Sorry, Kids: Disney's New York Headquarters Is for Grown-Ups The stock is coming off its biggest three-day drop since 2022, following news that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth plans to reduce projected US military spending by 8% over the next five years, potentially jeopardizing a key source of revenue for the firm. While some investors speculated Palantir could ultimately emerge as a winner from any push to make the Pentagon more lean, the headline spurred a selloff in what remains tech's priciest name. 'While the multiple is a little more realistic now, I wouldn't consider it a great value, and there's still tremendous execution risk and uncertainty,' said Tim Pagliara, chief investment officer at Capwealth Advisors. 'It is hard to project growth until we know what the military budget will look like.' The data-analysis software company has been one of the biggest winners of the artificial-intelligence boom, rising more than 300% in the past year and adding almost $190 billion in market value. But Palantir stands out among tech firms for the significant share of its revenue that comes from the US government. With President Donald Trump pledging to cut federal spending, what had been a tailwind for the stock has suddenly become a major worry. Deadline Time Hegseth set a Feb. 24 deadline for input on proposed cuts, meaning investors may be about to get more clarity around the impact on Palantir, and defense contractors broadly. More than 40% of Palantir's 2024 revenue was US-government related, data compiled by Bloomberg show, and that segment grew more than 40% in each of the past two quarters, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. This kind of exposure is unusual, according to BI, noting that it tended to be around mid- to high-single digits for most of the firm's software peers. Military spending is especially important: 22% of Palantir's government revenue comes from the US Army, William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma estimated. It's worth noting that the stock is particularly volatile. It had a steeper slump last month, which set the stage for an advance that drove it to a record closing high on Tuesday, before the news of the planned spending reductions. 'If anyone's looking for an excuse to take profits, a headline like that certainly is it,' said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Wealth Advisors, which owns the shares. 'The administration will likely sharpen a pencil, take a hard look at all of the spending, and I think vendors like Palantir will likely continue to receive the business and will likely expand,' he said. Palantir remains one of the the best-performing Nasdaq 100 Index components this year, up about 34%. And it has defied naysayers before, rallying earlier this month on the back of a strong revenue forecast. The company said it was seeing 'untamed organic growth' for its AI software. Some analysts say the AI tailwind diminishes risks around government budgets. Wedbush, which gives it an outperform rating, said 'Palantir's unique software approach will enable the company to gain more IT budget dollars at the Pentagon,' and cuts 'will ultimately be a positive growth catalyst.' Wall Street showed little panic last week amid the selloff, with consensus forecasts for earnings and revenue both rising. There is no denying, however, that the stock is still richly valued, leaving it vulnerable. Shares trade at nearly 180 times estimated earnings, making it the most expensive component of the S&P 500 Information Technology Sector by a wide margin, nearly twice as costly as runner-up Crowdstrike Holdings Inc. The figure for the overall sector is below 30. The elevated valuation is frequently cited as a concern, and more than half the analysts tracked by Bloomberg have the equivalent of hold ratings on the shares, with six saying buy and five recommending to sell. The stock is roughly 8% above the average 12-month price target, among the worst projected returns among tech companies. Still, Capwealth Advisors' Pagliara who owns the stock, stressed that he's confident in Palantir's long-term potential with the Pentagon. 'A military that's focused on efficiency and adaptiveness will spend more on tech and AI, and because of that it seems highly probable that Palantir will buck any budget-cut trends,' he said. 'I'm not concerned the way I would be about a company that makes tanks.' Top Tech Stories Microsoft Corp. has begun canceling leases for a substantial amount of datacenter capacity in the US, a move that may reflect concerns about whether it's building more AI computing than it will need over the long term, TD Cowen said in a report. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. pledged to invest more than 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) on AI infrastructure such as data centers over the next three years, a major commitment that underscores the e-commerce pioneer's ambitions of becoming a leader in artificial intelligence. Prosus NV agreed to buy Just Eat NV for €4.1 billion ($4.3 billion), as the technology investor seeks to expand its footprint in Europe. Shanghai Biren Intelligent Technology Co. is considering an initial public offering in Hong Kong, people familiar with the matter said, reviving a listing plan after also looking at Shanghai. 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