Eight companies bid to build 28 bridges for Bullet train project: NHRSCL

Tata Projects Ltd and Indo-Japanese consortium Larsen & ToubroIHI Infrastructure Systems are among the eight companies that have shown interest in building 28 steel bridges between Vadodara and Ahmedabad as part of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Corridor, a statement from the NHSRCL said.

The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) opened technical bids for two packages for the bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad on Friday.

One of the tender packages involves procurement and fabrication of 28 steel bridges for crossings over railway lines, rivers, highways, roads and other structures, the statement said.

The other package is about the design and construction of around 88-km of viaduct between Vadodara and Ahmedabad in Gujarat, including construction of "elevated high speed railway station (HRS) at Anand/Nadiad and the building of five bridges and 25 crossings", it said.

Tata Projects Ltd, Afcons Infrastructure Ltd, Braithwaite & Co. Ltd Consortium, Bridge & Roof Co. (India) Ltd, NCC Ltd, JMC Projects (India) Ltd & Rahee Infratech Ltd, ISGEC Heavy Engineering LtdM & B Engineering Ltd Consortium, Larsen & ToubroIHI Infrastructure Systems Consortium participated in the bid for the procurement and fabrication of 28 steel bridges, the statement said.

It said that all of them are Indian companies, except the Larsen & ToubroIHI Infrastructure Systems Consortium which is a consortium of Indian and Japanese companies.

"Three bidders -- Afcons Infrastructure LimitedIRCON International LimitedJMC Projects India Ltd Consortium; NCC LimitedTata Project Ltd-J Kumar Infra Projects Ltd- HSR Consortium; and Larsen & Toubro Ltd -- have emerged as bidders for the design and construction of 88 Kms viaduct and Anand/Nadiad station," the statement said.

It is estimated that about 70,000 MT of steel will be used for the fabrication of 28 steel bridges. The NHSRCL has already sensitised the steel industry to cater to such a huge demand for India's first high speed rail corridor, it said.

"With the opening of these bids, the technical bids covering 64 per cent (325 km out of the 508 km) of the total MAHSR alignment, including five HSR stations (Vapi, Billimora, Surat, Bharuch and Anand/Nadiad) out of 12 stations and one train depot at Surat are under consideration," the statement said.

Earlier this week, the NHSRCL opened technical bids for 237 km of viaduct between Vapi and Vadodara in Gujarat, including four elevated HSR stations and a train depot at Surat "where all the three bidders comprising seven leading Indian infrastructure companies had participated", it said.

The Indian steel and cement industries and their allied supply chains will get a big boost from these tenders, the statement said.