Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train: NHSRCL floats tender for underground tunnel

National High Speed Railway Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) has invited bids for the construction of a 21-km-long tunnel, seven km of which will be under the sea, for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor.

The work on the corridor has gained momentum after the change in government in Maharashtra, with tenders, which were previously floated and withdrawn, being renewed again, sources said.

Considered the highlight of the project, the tunnel will be built between the underground station at Bandra-Kurla Complex and Shilphata in Thane district of Maharashtra.

The tunnel will be built using tunnel boring machine and the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM), according to the tender document.

The seven-km undersea tunnel at Thane Creek will be the first undersea tunnel to come up in the country.

In November last year, NHSRCL had invited bids for underground tunnelling works for the project. But it was cancelled this year with officials citing "administrative reasons".

In 2019, NHSRCL had first invited tenders for the project but didn't attract any bidder. It again floated tenders in November 2021.

Land acquisition for the project in Maharashtra, including at Bandra-Kurla Complex, had been a festering issue during the previous state government, sources said.