India’s bullet train project has a logo, and it has a cheetah

The cheetah represents speed, while the red and blue lines symbolise calm and reliability, a source said.

India’s ambitious bullet train project now has a face to go with it.

The logo was designed by a NID Ahmedabad student.(NHSRCL website)

A logo in the shape of a cheetah outlining a bullet train and designed by a National Institute of Design Ahmedabad student has been chosen as National High Speed Rail Corporation’s mark, The Indian Express has reported.

The blue-and-red logo was chosen from about 100 applications entered in a contest. The winning candidate was selected by a three-member committee headed by known architect and painter Satish Gujral.

“The contest received an overwhelming response from across the country. The dates for submitting the applications were between April 19 and May 18,” an official told IE.

“The cheetah represents speed, while the red and blue lines symbolise calm and reliability,” the newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying.

Two more applications -- from School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi and NID Bengaluru --were shortlisted before the committee made its choice, according to The Business Today.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe launched the project to build India’s first bullet train network in September. The Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project that is set to be completed in 2022 and it is slated to cost Rs 1,10,000 crore. Trains on this network will run at peak speeds of 350 km per hour.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe (right) shake hands in front of a Shinkansen train during their inspection of a bullet train manufacturing plant in Kobe, Japan. (AFP File Photo)

The government has said the bullet train technology will revolutionise and transform the railways.

Critics, however, say the funds for the bullet train project could have been better utilised to revamp the ailing Indian Railways, which has witnessed various setbacks in the form of derailments and accidents in the past.

The government has proposed the country’s second high-speed train from Delhi to Amritsar via Chandigarh.