Infrastructure works for India’s first bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad have been put on the fast track following completion of the land acquisition process in Gujarat and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli (DNH) though, as Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said recently, the project will miss the original deadline of December 2023 owing to land acquisition issues in Maharashtra and delays caused by Covid-19.
While land acquisition in neighbouring Maharashtra has been slower, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) – the implementing agency for the `1.10-lakh-crore project – has initiated the process for building a tunnel between the underground Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) and Shilphata within Mumbai. A senior official with NHSRCL says the bidding process for eight new tenders has been initiated, including that for a tunnel in Mumbai and a training institute building at Vadodara. While most of the groundwork has been laid in Gujarat until now, the NHSRCL is speeding up construction related activities in Maharashtra, he says.
