Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train: L&T Emerges As The Lowest Bidder For Building 237 Km Mainline Between Vapi And Vadodara

Infrastructure and construction sector major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is set to bag its largest order ever as it has emerged as the lowest bidder to build a design and significant stretch of 237 kilometre mainline of the 508 Km long bullet train project between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, reports Economic Times.

The bids were opened on Monday (19 October) and L&T emerged as the L1 bidder with a bid of Rs 24,958 crore. This was significantly lower than the other two bids of Rs 28,000 crore and Rs 37,000 crore pitched by Tata Projects led consortium and Afcons Infrastructure led consortium respectively.

The tender alone covers the construction of 47 per cent alignment of the mammoth project between Vapi and Vadodara in Gujarat. It includes the construction of four stations at Vapi, Billimora, Surat and Bharuch along with the building of 24 river and 30 road crossings. For this alignment of the bullet train project, 87 per cent of land acquisition has also already been done by the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL).

Once completed in entirety, the project will shorten the time taken to travel between Mumbai and Ahmedabad to just two hours. It is expected to be completed at a cost of Rs 1.1 lakh crore, with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) financing almost 81 per cent of the project through a loan.