80% designing work of Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train bridges, tunnels complete
PM Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe at the Shinkansen bullet train in Japan (Representational Image)
The work on the country’s first high-speed rail corridor – the bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai – is underway in full swing, with the designing of bridges and tunnels almost 80 percent complete.
According to officials, the process to acquire land for the project has also started.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe had last year launched the ambitious project, which is expected to be completed by 2022.
The high-speed train would cover the distance of over 500 km between the two cities in less than three hours, from the present seven hours. It will halt at 12 stations, out of which four are in Maharashtra.
Almost 80 percent work of designing of the bridges, viaducts, and tunnels has been completed by engineers based in Delhi, Mumbai, and Japan, said Achal Khare, MD of the National High-Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRC), which is implementing the project.
The proposed corridor will start from the BKC in Mumbai and end near the Sabarmati Railway Station in Ahmedabad.
The works of surveying the route and soil testing are underway, Khare said, adding that the preliminary work of acquiring land in both the states has also begun.
“Our route passes through 108 villages of Maharashtra. A majority of these villages fall in Palghar district. We have issued a notice to acquire land in 17 villages and informed the land-owners about it,” Khare said.
Those who give their land will be compensated over and above the current prevailing market rates. In case of those who do not turn up, their lands will be acquired under section 19 of the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement Act 2013.
Passengers will reach from BKC in Mumbai to the neighbouring Thane in just 10 minutes and to Virar in Palghar district in 24 minutes.
“There will total 70 trips each day (35 in each direction) between the two stations and according to our estimates, our ridership will be 40,000 passengers per day,” he further said.
The limited halt trains will stop at BKC, Surat, Vadodara, Ahmedabad and Sabarmati stations, he said, adding that before the launch, the empty trains will have extensive trial runs of about 10,000 kms.
The 10-car train will have a business class and nine cars of the standard class. After 2033, the trains will have 16 cars.
With PTI inputs
