Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious Mumbai Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project has cleared an important hurdle by getting the environment clearance from the Experts Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, but not without some caveats.

While giving the clearance on April 5, the committee stated that before starting work, they need to thoroughly study the impact the vibrations emerging from the work on the project would cause on the Thane creek flamingo sanctuary and adjoining waters, which are a site of global significance. However, EAC did not agree to the reasons given by the National High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL), which is implementing the project, about the impossibility of predicting the impact of vibrations until work starts.