New railway philosophy lifeline to new India: Modi

Gandhinagar: Following the ground-breaking ceremony of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai high-speed rail project, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the "new railway philosophy" will be the lifeline to a new India. "This is not just the start of a high speed rail," Modi said in a joint address to the media with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after the 12th annual bilateral summit between India and Japan here. "Keeping in mind our needs in the future, I believe this new railway philosophy will be the lifeline to a new India," he said. He also thanked the people and parliament of Japan for ratifying the civil nuclear agreement that was signed during his visit to that country. Modi also said that Japan invested $4.7 billion in 2016-17, an 80 per cent rise from the previous year. "This makes Japan the third largest investor in India," he said. On his part, Abe said that India, Japan and the US conducted the joint maritime exercise Malabar for the first time this year based on the strong ties of trust between Modi and US President Donald Trump. "It will further deepen cooperation between India, Japan and the US," he said. India and Japan signed 15 agreements across a range of sectors following Thursday's summit. Earlier in the day, Modi and Abe participated in the ground-breaking ceremony of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai high-speed rail project in Ahmedabad.