Two firms in race to construct India’s first bullet train tunnel

Afcons Infrastructure Limited and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Limited have submitted their bids to construct India’s first undersea rail tunnel.

New Delhi | Updated: 10 February, 2023 11:26 am IST
Representative image

Despite delays, the 508-km-long Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail (MAHSR) project is gaining momentum. As per officials, two companies have submitted bids to construct the 21-km-long tunnel on the rail route.

Technical bids for MAHSR Package C-2, which includes the construction of a 21-km tunnel – 7 km of which will be under the sea – were opened on Thursday, informed the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), the nodal agency for India’s first bullet train project.

The 7-km stretch will be India’s first undersea tunnel project.

NHSRCL spokesperson Sushma Gaur said that Afcons Infrastructure Limited and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Limited have submitted their bids.

The ₹1.08 lakh crore high-speed rail project is among the ambitious projects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He laid its foundation stone along with then-Japan PM Shinzo Abe in September 2017 in Ahmedabad.

As per officials, all required contracts for the construction of viaducts, bridges, stations and track for the entire 352-km alignment passing through 8 districts of Gujarat and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (DNH) have already been awarded.

The construction work along the alignment is going on in full swing, NHSRCL officials said. The project has also witnessed the first rail-level slabs of 50 meters each in Surat and Anand stations.

The officials said that 27.6 km of the viaduct is completed which includes 6.28 km of the continuous viaduct near Vadodara and 21.32 km erected at different locations.

The works on 8 stations from Vapi to Sabarmati are under various stages of construction while the pile has been cast over a length of 240.37 km, the foundation over 158.89 km and piers have been constructed over a stretch of 137.89 km.

Bridge construction works on important rivers like Narmada, Tapti, Mahi and Sabarmati are also in progress.

The NHSRCL has acquired 98.8 per cent of land for the project, including 98.9 per cent of the required land in Gujarat, 100 per cent in DNH and 98.7 per cent in Maharashtra.

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