Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has approved the proposal for a bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, Union Minister of State for Railways Naranbhai Rathva said on Saturday.

A decision on selecting the agency for starting the bullet train service will be taken in February, he said in Vadodara.

He said companies from Japan, France, Italy and Germany had shown interest in the project.

Rathva, who inaugurated a new running room in Vadodara, urged for speeding up survey for construction of third rail track between Mumbai and Ahmedabad to ease traffic.

He said it was difficult to introduce new trains on the Western Railway section because of heavy traffic.