The foundation work on all eight stations in Gujarat for India’s first bullet train, officially called Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor (MAHSR), has been completed, a National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) said in a statement on Wednesday. The eight stations in the state are: Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Anand, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, and Sabarmati.
NHSRCL, the body undertaking the construction, said different stations are in different phases.
In Vapi, rail level slab is completed, while in Bilimora, platform level slab is completed. In Surat and Anand, platform slab is almost complete while in Ahmedabad, the work has started. In Bharuch, about 100m of rail level slab is pending.
There will be two depots for the project — Surat and Sabarmati. The structural work is complete in the Surat depot along with earthwork and it has been handed over to the contractor for track laying.
In Sabarmati depot, earthwork is complete and Over Head Equipment (OHE) foundation work is in progress. Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) works for the administrative building are in progress along with foundation works for various sheds/workshops.
All civil contracts were awarded for Gujarat and Maharashtra, the statement added. Further, 190 km of viaduct and 321 km of pier work have also been completed.
The project will cover parts of Gujarat and Maharashtra through Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Land acquisition for the project has already been completed along with contact award for all Depot and Electrical contracts.
The total length of the bullet train corridor is divided into three states/UTs — 156 km in Maharashtra, 4 km in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and 384 km in Gujarat. The total length of the project is 508 km covering 12 stations.
J-Slab track system
The Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project will have a J-Slab track system of ballastless track based on the Japanese Shinkansen track system.
“This is for the first time, the J-slab ballastless track system is being used in India. The two state-of-the-art Track Slab manufacturing facilities are fully functional in Surat and Anand,” the statement added.
More than 35,000 MT of JIS rails and three sets of track construction machinery have been received at Surat and Vadodara.
The first mountain tunnel of 350 m length near Zaroli Village in Valsad, Gujarat, is complete. Three steel bridges spanning 70 meters, 100 meters and 130 meters are complete in Surat, Anand and Vadodara, respectively.
“The bridge works on eight rivers out of the total 24 river bridges on Bullet Train corridor viz. Par (Valsad district), Purna (Navsari district), Mindhola (Navsari district), Ambika (Navsari district), Auranga (Valsad district), Venganiya (Navsari district), Mohar (Kheda district) and Dhadhar (Vadodara district) has been completed and the work on other important rivers viz., Narmada, Tapti, Mahi and Sabarmati are in progress,” the statement said.
In Maharashtra, work started for India’s first seven-kilometre undersea rail tunnel, which is a part of the 21-km-long tunnel between BKC and Shilphata in Maharashtra.
Also, excavation works for construction of Mumbai Bullet Train station and for the shaft for underground/undersea tunnel is in progress.
The bullet train project is estimated to cost about Rs 1 lakh crore as of 2015. This cost will further go up by the time the project is completed.
About 81 per cent of the cost is being funded by the government of Japan and remaining is being provided through equity by the shareholders — Government of India (Ministry of Railways) (50%), Government of Gujarat (25%) and Government of Maharashtra (25%).
The work on the project started in September 2017 and was expected to be completed by December 2023. However, it is now expected that one of the stretches can be started around 2026.
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