NHSRCL awards contract for last civil package of Bullet train's 135 km bit

The National High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL) on Thursday said it has awarded contract for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet train project's 'last civil package' of a 135-kilometre section.

The Bullet train corridor is divided into 28 contract packages, of which 11 are 'civil packages'.

The works in the 135 km section between Shilphata in Thane district and Zaroli village on the Maharashtra-Gujarat border included seven tunnels and the longest bridge of 2 km over the Vaitarna river in Maharashtra besides the construction of Thane, Virar and Boisar stations, the corporation said in a statement. NHSRCL has already awarded contracts for the construction of Mumbai (BKC) station and 21 km of tunnels including a 7 km undersea tunnel works in Maharashtra. With this last tender, all civil contracts for the Mumbai -Ahmedabad High Speed Rail corridor have been awarded, the release said.

"This also marks the award of all the 11 civil packages of 508 km long MAHSR corridor, comprising 465 km long viaducts, 12 HSR stations, 3 rolling stock depots, 28 steel bridges comprising 10 km of viaduct, 24 river bridges, 9 tunnels including 7 km long India's first undersea tunnel," the release stated. The first civil contract for the construction of 237 km viaducts including 4 HSR stations (Vapi, Bilimora, Surat and Bharuch) and Surat rolling stock depot Gujarat was awarded on October 28, 2020, which was also the largest civil contract awarded in India, the corporation claimed. The total cost of the project is pegged at Rs 1.08 trillion.