Iran's 'catastrophic mistake': Speculation, pressure, then admission

Yahoo – AFP, Stuart WILLIAMS, January 11, 2020

An Iranian holds a newspaper with a picture of the debris of the Ukrainian plane
that crashed in Tehran on January 8, 2020, outside a news stand in the Islamic
republic's capital (AFP Photo/ATTA KENARE)

Paris (AFP) - When a Boeing passenger jet crashed in Iran early on January 8, speculation immediately swirled that the only plausible explanation was that it had been shot down by Iran.

The crash of the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) flight came hours after Tehran had launched a barrage of missiles at bases housing American troops in Iraq, retaliating for the killing of commander Qasem Soleimani in a US strike.

Immediately, theories multiplied arguing that Tehran's air defence system, on high alert for possible US retaliation, may have been triggered by accident.

Western leaders cited intelligence pointing to an accidental strike by Iran. Verified video images later emerged showing a missile striking a plane.

From Wednesday to Friday, Iranian officials repeatedly insisted that the plane had not been shot down. Early on Saturday however, the Islamic republic admitted that the plane had been hit by a short-range missile in what President Hassan Rouhani described as a "catastrophic mistake".

Ukrainian passenger jet crash in Iran (AFP Photo)

What happened on January 8?

The Boeing 737-800NG for UIA's flight PS752 between Tehran and Kiev took off from Imam Khomeini International Airport at 6:12 am local time.

Although there was no distress message from the pilot, the plane had begun to turn back for the airport before crashing at 6:18 am, said the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization. The aircraft came down near Sabashahr on the outskirts of Tehran.

There were 10 departures from Tehran airport that day before flight PS752, according to the Flight Radar 24 monitoring site. That raised questions as to why air traffic had not been halted given the situation.

All 176 people on board the flight PS752 -- mainly Iranians and Canadians, including dual nationals, but also Ukrainians, Afghans, Britons and Swedes -- were killed.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was the first major leader to publicly 

state Iran could be to blame for the plane crash (AFP Photo/Dave Chan)

How did pressure grow?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was the first major leader to publicly state Iran could be to blame. He said Canada had intelligence from multiple sources "including our allies and our own intelligence" that indicated "the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile."

"This may well have been unintentional," Trudeau added.

His language was echoed by other Western leaders including Dutch Premier Mark Rutte, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

US President Donald Trump said he had "suspicions" as "somebody could have made a mistake", and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo then said the United States believed it was "likely" that an Iranian missile downed the airliner.

The New York Times also said it had verified a video appearing to show a missile hitting a plane at night above the Tehran suburb of Parand, west of the airport.

What did Iran initially say?

For three days, Iranian officials refused to countenance any suggestion that one of its missiles had brought down the plane.

The country's civil aviation chief Ali Abedzadeh said that one "thing is for certain, this airplane was not hit by a missile", arguing that it would have exploded immediately if hit by a missile.

Experts questioned that claim, arguing that such missiles explode before coming into contact with the target.

This handout photograph taken and released on January 11, 2019, by The 

National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, shows people analysing 

the remains of the Ukraine International Airlines plane Boeing 737-800 that

crashed outside Tehran (AFP Photo/STR)

What does Iran now admit?

In an announcement early Saturday that took many experts by surprise, Iran admitted it had "unintentionally" shot down the jet after a missile operator mistook the plane for a cruise missile.

Tehran said its systems had been on high alert for American retaliation in the hours after the Iranian strikes on bases housing US troops in Iran.

"He had 10 seconds to decide," the aerospace commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh said of the operator, who he insisted had "acted alone".

"He could have decided to strike or not to strike and under such circumstances he took the wrong decision."

Rouhani called it an "unforgivable mistake", vowed that compensation would be paid to the families while those responsible would be prosecuted.

What kind of missile was used?

Unverified images posted on social media show the remains of a Russian-made Tor M-1 missile but Tehran has yet to give details on the kind of weaponry used.

Tehran received 29 such air defence systems from Moscow under a $700 million contract signed in 2005, a deal that caused considerable unease in the West.

The Bellingcat open-source analytics website has said the origin of the images is yet to be determined, and the people who captured the images have not come forward.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, pictured on January 9, 2020 in a 

presidential press handout photo placing flowers at a memorial for the victims 

of the Ukraine International Airlines crash in Tehran, has toughened his stance 

on Iran (AFP Photo/HO)

What does Ukraine want now?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, initially wary of blaming Tehran, has toughened his line since Tehran's admission.

After Zelensky spoke to Rouhani later Saturday, the Ukrainian presidency said that Zelensky asked Tehran to allow the bodies of the 11 Ukrainian victims to be repatriated "by January 19".

He added that Ukrainian diplomats had produced a list of steps to be taken to "resolve the compensation issue".

Despite the three days of denial from Tehran, some have compared its reaction favourably to that from Moscow over the crash of the Malaysia Airlines flight shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014.

Although the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team says a Russian-made BUK missile fired by pro-Russian separatists was to blame, Russia still denies any involvement.

Iranian police dispersed students chanting "radical" slogans during a gathering in Tehran to honour the 176 people killed when an airliner was mistakenly shot down, Fars news agency reported https://t.co/jtSIrcZiX1

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 11, 2020

Pilot in Schiphol security scare was instructing a trainee at the time

DutchNews, November 7, 2019

Military police at Schiphol after the scare. Photo: AP Photo/Peter Dejong via HH 

The pilot who sparked a security scare at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Wednesday night was giving a trainee instructions when he accidently gave a hijacking alert, airline Air Europa has confirmed. 

The pilot activated the hijacking alert code as priority passengers were boarding, putting D pier into lockdown and launching a high-profile military police operation which generated news coverage around the world. 

No disciplinary measures will be taken against the pilot because there is nothing to blame him for, the airline told broadcaster NOS. 

Meanwhile, one of the 26 passengers on board the plane said they only realised the extent of the scare when they were allowed to leave the aircraft. 

‘My family rang when I was in the plane because they heard it had been hijacked,’ Javier Domingo told the Parool. ‘They had seen these messages about people with knives on board but none of it was true. We were just sitting talking. Some people were watching films on their iPad.’ 

Only on leaving the plane, where they were photographed and searched, did passengers realise what had been going on, he said. 

When the passengers were finally let back on board, the pilot was standing in the doorway. ‘He offered every passenger his apologies on behalf of Air Europa,’ Domingo said. ‘But he did not say that it was he himself who had caused it.’

Related Article:

Schiphol security alert is a false alarm, military police alerted by mistake

Airbus ups estimate of 20-year demand for new planes

France24 – AFP, 18 September 2019

Paris (AFP) - Airbus on Wednesday increased its estimate of the number of new aircraft needed over the coming two decades as airlines seek more fuel-efficient planes even as it trimmed its forecast for the increase in demand for air travel.

In its latest Global Market Forecast for the next 20 years, the European aircraft maker said it expects air traffic to grow by 4.3 percent annually, a drop from the 4.4 percent annual growth it forecast last year.

Nevertheless, Airbus now expects even higher demand for new aircraft than it did last year thanks to airlines increasingly retiring older planes for new ones that offer lower operating costs as they consume less fuel.

Airbus anticipates demand for new aircraft over the coming two decades at 39,210 planes, a rise of nearly 2,000 from its forecast last year, due a sharp increase in replacements. Unlike last year, it did not provide a cost estimate.

"Developments in superior fuel efficiency are further driving demand to replace existing less fuel efficient aircraft," said Airbus in a statement.

However, it scaled back the number of planes it expects airlines to acquire to meet growth in demand for air travel by more than 1,500 aircraft to 25,000.

Airbus said that nevertheless the annual growth of more than 4 percent reflects the resilient nature of aviation from economic shocks and its increasingly key role in the global economy.

"Economies thrive on air transportation. People and goods want to connect," said Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Airbus International.

"Globally, commercial aviation stimulates GDP growth and supports 65 million livelihoods, demonstrating the immense benefits our business brings to all societies and global trade," he added.

The firm also stressed that with its latest more fuel efficient models it will help the airline industry limit its environmental impact.

"Airbus believes it will largely contribute to the progressive decarbonisation of the air transport industry and the objective of carbon neutral growth from 2020 while connecting more people globally," it said.

The airline industry aims to freeze its carbon footprint at its 2020 level thanks to more fuel efficient aircraft and through offsets like planting trees.

Singapore Airlines denies snooping with seatback cameras

Yahoo – AFP, 21 February 2019

Singapore Airlines says the cameras on its latest inflight entertainment systems
have been disabled

Singapore Airlines insisted Thursday that cameras on its planes' entertainment systems had been disabled after an outcry online from worried passengers who spotted the tiny lenses peering at them.

Travellers took to Twitter and other social media to raise the alarm over the cameras at the bottom of seatback screens on a number of the Singapore flag carrier's newer aircraft.

"Just found this interesting sensor looking at me from the seat back on board of Singapore Airlines. Any expert opinion of whether is a camera?" passenger Vitaly Kamluk tweeted.

His tweet was accompanied by photos of the monitor with the embedded camera.

Another passenger urged the airline in a tweet to "notify all your passengers and get their consent, particularly EU residents, that you are doing this, why, what are you doing with the data and how long you keep it".

The airline confirmed that some of its latest inflight entertainment systems did have fixed cameras -- but assured passengers that they had been disabled.

"These cameras have been intended by the manufacturers for future developments. These cameras have been permanently disabled on our aircraft and cannot be activated on board," the airline said in a statement.

"We have no plans to enable or develop any features using the cameras."

US airlines to offer non-binary gender options

Yahoo – AFP, February 19, 2019

Beginning June 1, 2019, members of Airlines for America, a trade group that
 represents most leading US carriers, will allow consumers to pick "unspecified" and
 "undisclosed" in addition to the traditional two gender options of "male" and
"female" (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB)

New York (AFP) - US carriers will soon offer passengers additional options besides "male" and "female" when they buy tickets, an airlines trade association said Tuesday.

The shift comes as a handful of US states permit citizens to identify by non-binary genders and as a minority of countries within the European Union permit citizens to self-identify by their gender preference.

Beginning June 1, members of Airlines for America, a trade group that represents most leading US carriers, will allow consumers to pick "unspecified" and "undisclosed" in addition to the traditional two options.

"US airlines value a culture of diversity and inclusion, both in the workplace and for our passengers and we work hard each day to accommodate the needs of all travelers, while delivering a safe, secure and enjoyable flight experience," the group said.

Implementation of the shift will be up to members of the group, which is also known as A4A. Members of the association include American Airlines and Southwest Airlines.

United Airlines, another member, said on Twitter, that "In the coming weeks, customers will be able to select the gender with which they most closely identify during the booking process."

Delta Air Lines, which is not in A4A, also plans non-binary gender options during the booking process, a spokeswoman said.

Seven states in the US and the District of Columbia allow citizens to define as "X" gender, in addition to male and female, said Gillian Branstetter, media relations manager at the National Center of Transgender Equality.

The group applauded the airline announcement.

"Non-binary people face unnecessary, invasive, and discriminatory scrutiny by airlines, airports and security services alike," said Arli Christian, state policy director for the National Center for Transgender Equality.

"A4A's work is in line with other states who offer gender neutral designations on IDs and is an important step toward ensuring safe and smooth travel for all passengers regardless of their gender."

Among the 28 EU member states and three European Free Trade Association states, seven countries currently have or will soon have a model that lets adults self-define their gender, according to a November 2018 European Commission report on trans and intersex equality. However, only one jurisdiction -- Malta -- permits non-binary recognition.

EU countries, as well as the EU itself, "are firmly grounded in a binary conception of sex," said the report.

"While public awareness if improving, trans and intersex people continue to suffer disproportionate social and legal burdens," the report said.

All 189 on board crashed Indonesian jet feared dead

Yahoo – AFP, Harry PEARL, October 29, 2018

Debris apparently from the crashed jet was pulled out of the water (AFP Photo/Handout)

All 189 passengers and crew aboard a crashed Indonesian Lion Air jet were likely killed in the accident, rescue officials said Monday, as they announced they had found human remains and would continue the grim search through the night.

The Boeing-737 MAX, which went into service just months ago, vanished from radar 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta, plunging into the Java Sea moments after it had asked to return to the Indonesian capital.

Flight JT 610 sped up as it suddenly lost altitude in the minutes before it disappeared, according to flight data tracking websites, with authorities saying witnesses saw the jet plunge into the water.

"The victims that we found, their bodies were no longer intact and it's been hours so it is likely 189 people have died," search and rescue agency operational director Bambang Suryo Aji told reporters.

Some 40 divers are part of about 150 personnel at the scene, authorities said, with wreckage from the jet some 30 to 40 metres deep in the water.

Earlier, video footage apparently filmed at the scene of the crash showed a slick of fuel on the surface of the water and pictures showed what appeared to be an emergency slide and bits of wreckage bearing Lion Air's logo.

Distraught family of passengers gathered at Pangkal Pinang airport, where the

plane had been headed (AFP Photo/HADI SUTRISNO)

The carrier acknowledged that the jet had previously been grounded for unspecified repairs.

"It's really a mystery what could have happened," said Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor of industry publication Flightglobal.

The plane had been en route to Pangkal Pinang city, a jumping off point for beach-and-sun seeking tourists on nearby Belitung island, when it dropped out of contact around 6:30 am (2330 GMT).

Former professional cyclist Andrea Manfredi was a passenger on the flight, the Italian foreign ministry said.

"The memory of a serious guy and in love with his sport, will remain indelible in the minds of all those who, in these years, have had the good fortune to know him," Bardiani-CSF, Manfredi's former team, said in a statement.

'He called this morning'

Footage from Pangkal Pinang's main airport showed families of passengers crying and hugging each other, with some calling out to god.

A fuel slick was spotted at the site where the Lion Air plane is believed to have 

crashed into the sea (AFP Photo/Handout)

"This morning he called asking about our youngest son," said a sobbing Ermayati, referring to her 45-year-old husband Muhammed Syafii, who was on board.

There were 178 adult passengers, one child, two infants, two pilots and six cabin crew aboard the flight, according to Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC).

About 20 finance ministry employees were on the plane including half a dozen colleagues of Sony Setiawan, who missed check in for a flight he took weekly due to bad traffic.

"I know my friends were on that flight," he told AFP.

Setiawan said he was only informed about his lucky escape after he arrived in Pangkal Pinang on another flight.

"My family was in shock and my mother cried, but I told them I was safe, so I just have to be grateful."

Lion Air said the plane had only gone into service in August.

The pilot and co-pilot had more than 11,000 hours of flying time between them and had recent medical checkups and drug testing, it added.

Lion Air chief Edward Sirait said the plane had an unspecified technical issue fixed in Bali before it was flown back to Jakarta.

A search and rescue operation swung into action just after the plane 

disappeared from radar (AFP Photo/Resmi MALAU)

"Engineers in Jakarta received notes and did another repair before it took off" on Monday, Sirait told AFP, calling it "normal procedure".

Poor safety record

US-based Boeing said it was "deeply saddened" by news of the crash.

Boeing reportedly suspended release of the 737 MAX just days out from its first commercial delivery last year due to an engine issue, according to airline safety and product review site airlineratings.com.

It said the engines were a product of a joint venture between US-based General Electric and France's Safran Aircraft Engines.

Earlier this year, Lion Air announced it was buying 50 Boeing 737 MAX 10 jets for $6.24 billion.

Indonesia's air travel industry is booming, with the number of domestic passengers growing significantly over the past decade, but it has acquired a reputation for poor regulation and its airlines had previously been banned from US and European airspace.

In August 2015, a commercial passenger aircraft operated by Indonesian carrier Trigana crashed in Papua due to bad weather, killing all 54 people on board.

A year earlier poor maintenance and inadequate pilot response was blamed for an AirAsia plane crash which cost 162 lives.

Lion, a low-cost airline which has engaged in a huge expansion in recent years, has been involved in a number of incidents including a fatal 2004 crash and a collision between two Lion Air planes at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport.

Air pressure mix-up causes mass bleeding on Indian flight

Yahoo – AFP, 20 September 2018

The Jet Airways flight to Jaipur had to turn back as the alarming symptoms became
apparent, the airline said

A cockpit mix-up left more than 30 passengers on an Indian plane bleeding from their ears and noses Thursday after the crew reportedly forgot to flick a switch regulating cabin air pressure.

The Jet Airways flight to Jaipur had to turn back due to loss in cabin pressure, the airline said, with travellers describing "panic" on board.

The plane carrying 166 passengers landed back in Mumbai and those affected were given medical attention while alternative flights were arranged, Jet Airways said.

The flight crew "has been taken off scheduled duties pending investigation", the company said in a statement.

People on board posted photos and videos of the calamity online, with one purported passenger, Darshak Hathi, uploading footage on Twitter showing travellers using oxygen masks.

"Panic situation due to technical fault in @jetairways 9W 0697 going from Mumbai to Jaipur," he tweeted, adding that all passengers were safe.

Another traveller said the pilot did not make any announcement other than that the flight would turn back to Mumbai.

"I was in the business class and the oxygen mask came down suddenly. One passenger came running from the back asking everyone to put on the masks," he told the NDTV news network.

"All the passengers were panicking, those sitting at the back and who were unable to wear the masks started bleeding from their mouths and noses."

An official with India's national aviation regulator told the Press Trust of India the crew "forgot to select (the) bleed switch" to maintain the aircraft's cabin pressure.

Five travellers who suffered bleeding and were rushed to a Mumbai hospital were suffering from mild deafness that would take some 10 days to recover, a doctor told reporters.

The incident is the latest in a string of embarrassing incidents for the airline, which like other Indian carriers has been suffering financially.

In January, two Jet Airways pilots were grounded for getting into a brawl and storming out of the cockpit briefly during a New Year's Day flight from London to Mumbai.

In view of the latest scare, India's Civil Aviation minister Suresh Prabhu has ordered a safety audit of all airlines and airports, asking the report to be submitted within 30 days.

Ryanair warns Dutch passengers to claim compensation directly

DutchNews, July 24, 2018

Photo: Ryanair.com

Budget airline Ryanair has written to a Dutch organisation which helps passengers claim compensation for delays saying it is disturbing ‘the good relationship with passengers,’ according to broadcaster NOS. 

The letter calls on EUclaim to stop putting in claims on behalf of passengers who face delays or whose flights have been cancelled. Some 700 Dutch nationals submitted claims via the bureau last week after their flights were cancelled or delayed following strikes by Ryanair staff, NOS said. 

In the letter, Ryanair asks the organisation to advise passengers to get in touch with the airline directly. If it does not, the airline says it will ‘take all necessary measures’ to protect the contractual relationship with its passengers. 

Ryanair has a claim formula on its website and states that all claims will be dealt with within 10 days. 

However, EUclaim, which charges 29% of any payout plus a 26 admin fee per person, says passengers tend to turn to it for help after being turned down by Ryanair. 

A spokesman for the Dutch consumers organisation Consumentenbond, which according to NOS works together with EUclaim, says the Ryanair letter is ‘shocking’. ‘We know that it is often very difficult for consumers to get justice,’ a spokesman told the broadcaster. 

Under EU law, airline passengers are entitled to compensation if their flight has been delayed for more than three hours, ‘if the airline cannot prove that the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided by reasonable measures.’

Turkish passenger plane skids off runway onto seaside cliff

Yahoo – AFP, 14 January 2018

The Pegasus Airlines flight had taken off smoothly from the capital Ankara bound
for Trabzon, where the accident occurred as the plane was landing late Saturday

A plane with 168 people aboard skidded off a runway onto a seaside cliff after landing at an airport in northern Turkey at the weekend, but no one was injured in what one passenger called a "miracle".

The Pegasus Airlines flight had taken off smoothly from the capital Ankara bound for Trabzon, where the accident occurred as the plane was landing late Saturday.

Dramatic images from CNN Turk broadcaster showed the plane lying on the cliffside, its nose just metres (feet) from the waters of the Black Sea and its wheels stuck in mud.

"There was panic, people shouting, screaming," one of the passengers, Fatma Gordu, told state-run Anadolu news agency.

"When they told us to leave from the rear exit, everyone tried to push ahead of everyone else. It was a terrible situation."

She said they could smell fuel and feared that a fire would break out. "That is why we were scared," she said, adding that there were pregnant women and children on board.

Passenger Yuksel Gordu said it was a "miracle" they were saved. "We could have burned, it could have exploded, we could have fallen into the sea... Every time I think about it, I feel I might go crazy," she said.

Images from the Dogan news agency showed smoke emanating from the trapped plane and an engine that appeared to have fallen into the water.

According to the agency, the plane was 25 metres (80 feet) away from the sea.

Pegasus Airlines confirmed in a statement Sunday there were no injuries among the 162 passengers, two pilots and four flight attendants.

Pegasus Airlines confirmed in a statement Sunday there were no injuries 

among the 162 passengers, two pilots and four flight attendants

The cause of the incident was unknown but an investigation is under way, the Trabzon governor's office said. A crisis centre for the incident was set up at the airport.

"The plane will be removed while all measures have been taken for other work and procedures. These will be carried out step-by-step," Trabzon governor Yucel Yavuz told Anadolu.

He added that a small number of people asked to go to hospital but did not give further detail.

The Trabzon public prosecutor has launched a separate criminal probe. Dogan agency said the prosecutor would seek statements from the six crew onboard.

The airport was temporarily shut before reopening early Sunday, while an operation to remove the plane continued.

Professor Atakan Aksoy from Karadeniz Technical University's civil engineering department said that the construction of a second runway needed to be "accelerated".

"These kinds of accidents can happen due to the narrow ground surface in the northern part of the airport and because it is near a cliff," he told Dogan agency.

Dutch prepare to bring in new EU rules on airline passenger information

DutchNews, January 10, 2018

Justice minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus has submitted a draft law to parliament which will require airlines to hand over all their information about passengers to the military police. 

The information will go to a new police unit for analysis with the aim of tracking down terrorists and major criminals, the minister said. The new law stems from the European Passenger Name Record directive, which is now being incorporated into Dutch law. 

Grapperhaus expects the legislation to complete its passage through parliament before the summer. 

Information about passengers – including details about baggage, payments and addresses – will be kept for five years. It can also be shared with other countries, Europol and the regular Dutch police force.

Indian airline fires pilots over mid-air row

Yahoo – AFP, 9 January 2018

Indian airline fires pilots over mid-air row

Mumbai (AFP) - An Indian airline said Tuesday it had fired two pilots after reports they fought and both briefly left the cockpit unmanned during a New Year's Day flight from London to Mumbai.

Jet Airways took the step after investigating allegations that a male pilot slapped his female colleague during a heated argument when the plane was mid-air carrying 324 passengers.

The quarrel reportedly led the female pilot to leave the cockpit in tears and she had to be persuaded to go back in by cabin crew.

At one point the male pilot also left the cockpit, leaving the controls briefly unattended, according to local media reports.

"Consequent to the review of the events... Jet Airways has terminated services of both the cockpit crew with immediate effect," Jet said in a statement.

The two pilots were grounded last week over the altercation, which Jet had described as a "misunderstanding" that was "quickly resolved amicably".

The flight departed London around 1000 GMT on Monday and arrived in India's financial capital on schedule around nine hours later at midnight local time.

Modi, Abe get India's first bullet train going as ties deepen

Yahoo – AFP, Jalees ANDRABI, September 13, 2017

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan's Shinzo Abe shake hands in front
of a Shinkansen bullet train during a 2016 meeting in Kobe (AFP Photo/JIJI PRESS)

New Delhi (AFP) - As India's premier Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe prepare to break ground on the country's first bullet train project Thursday, experts say the collaboration could signal a massive leap for its overburdened and deadly railways.

India's colonial-era rail network carries some 22 million passengers daily, making it one of the busiest in the world. But it is also among the most dangerous.

A government report published in 2012 said almost 15,000 people were killed every year in rail accidents, describing the deaths as an annual "massacre" due mainly to poor safety standards.

Modi has pledged to invest billions of dollars to modernise the country's crumbling railway infrastructure, which is plagued by delays, and the bullet train was one of his key election promises ahead of a landslide victory in 2014.

As New Delhi and Tokyo seek to forge closer ties to combat China's growing regional influence, the project offers a diplomatic and economic boost.

The premiers will lay the foundation for the bullet train network in the western city of Ahmedabad -- connecting Modi's home state of Gujarat with India's financial capital Mumbai.

Japan is a pioneer in high-speed rail transport -- with its Shinkansen bullet train ranked among the fastest in the world.

With projected top speeds of up to 350 kilometres (217 miles) an hour -- more than double the maximum speed offered by the fastest trains operating in India -- it will reduce travel time between the two cities from eight hours to at most three-and-a-half hours.

The new train, which will have a capacity of 750 passengers, is also expected to be safer than the country's creaking rail network, the world's fourth largest by distance.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (right) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi 

visit Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, on September 13, 2017 (AFP Photo/

PRAKASH SINGH)

'Balance China's hegemony'

Modi recently replaced his railway minister after a series of derailments, including one last month in which at least 23 people were killed in northern Uttar Pradesh state. Nearly 150 died in a similar accident in November.

The agreement for the 508-kilometre network was signed in 2016, with plans to make it operational by December 2023.

Nearly 85 percent of the total project cost of $19 billion will be provided by Tokyo in soft loans, with repayment over 50 years.

Abe's visit to Ahmedabad comes ahead of Modi's 67th birthday on Sunday and many have dubbed it as part of his practice of "birthday diplomacy".

The right-wing Hindu nationalist leader hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in Gujarat on his birthday in 2014.

"India's relation with Japan is designed to balance China's hegemony," Rajrishi Singhal, a Mumbai-based independent policy consultant, told AFP.

India's crumbling rail infrastructure is in desperate need of modernisation, with 

a report in 2012 describing the 15,000 deaths on the network each year as a 

'massacre' (AFP Photo)

The two countries have close security ties and hold regular joint military exercises.

A proposed joint investment of billions of dollars in Africa is set to be the cornerstone of the relationship, Singhal said.

"India truly values the relationship with Japan and we look forward to further boosting our bilateral ties in a wide range of sectors," Modi tweeted Tuesday.

There are more than 1,500 Japanese companies in India, including auto major Suzuki, the largest car maker in the country.

The success of Suzuki and others transformed India's auto industry, which employs millions today.

Experts are pinning similar hopes on the bullet train project.

"Just like Suzuki changed India's car market and brought millions of jobs, the bullet train will change the entire industry," Singhal said.