Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train: Project Behind Target; Incurs Over Rs 45,621 Crore Expenditure Till Date

NHSRCL has achieved a physical progress of 34.94 per cent against the target of 37.08 per cent by end of June this year, a shortfall of 2.14 per cent, in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail project.

According to National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), major reasons for shortfall are delay in tendering in Maharashtra due to late land acquisition and delay in inviting tenders for rolling stock.

As on date, 100 per cent civil contracts have been awarded in the project with the total expenditure of Rs 3,466.17 crore incurred in 2023-24 and Rs 45,621.17 crore by June 2023.

NHSRCL awarded the last civil package having 135 km of Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) alignment, including seven tunnels and longest bridge of 2 km over Vaitarna river in Maharashtra.

With this, all three civil packages of Maharashtra portion including construction of Mumbai HSR station, 21 km of tunnel (including the 7 km undersea tunnel) and the 135 km of alignment of MAHSR corridor have been awarded.

This also marks the award of all the 11 civil packages of the 508-km-long MAHSR corridor, comprising 465-km-long viaducts, 12 HSR stations, three rolling stock depots, 28 steel bridges comprising 10 km of viaduct, 24 river bridges, nine tunnels including the 7-km-long India’s first undersea tunnel.

The MAHSR corridor is divided into 28 contract packages, out which 11 are civil packages, which were awarded in a span of 33 months.

The last civil contract of the 135 km viaduct with three HSR stations (Thane, Virar and Boisar) in Maharashtra was awarded on 19 July, 2023.

In order to expedite the construction of viaducts, for the first time in India, full-span girders of 40 m length weighing 970 ton, have been launched through one-of-a-kind full-span-launching-equipment set.

The mega infrastructure project is expected to consume 1.6 crore cubic metre of cement and 17 lakh MT of steel and act as a catalyst to give the cement and steel industries a boost.

The tenders for track works for the complete MAHSR section, in Gujarat — 352 km out of total 508 km — have also been awarded.

The training of Indian engineers and work leaders for the high-speed rail track system for MAHSR corridor has already started.

About 1,000 engineers/work leaders/technicians are planned to be trained in the specially created facility at Surat Depot. Around 20 Japanese experts will impart intensive training to the Indian engineers, supervisors and technicians and certify their skills.

Initially estimated to be Rs 1,08,000 lakh crore, the project being funded by JICA, is now believed to be touching nearly Rs 2 lakh crore.