Bullet train work started in Palgar and Thane districts of Maharashtra. The project implementation agency said on Tuesday that this work is part of the 508 km long Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor.
National High Speed ​​​​​​​​​​​Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) said that the work is being done as part of package-C3 of the bullet train project stretching from Shilpata to Jaroli village on the Maharashtra-Gujarat border.
With this, a geotechnical investigation of the entire 135 km long section is about to be completed. Also, work has begun on two mountain tunnels in this area and the foundation work of the ghats has also begun in many places. Casting yards are being developed for casting a span and a full section of beams, the announcement said.
Package C-3 of the bullet train project is 135.45 km long and includes viaducts and bridges spanning 24.027 km as well as 5.361 km of earthworks. It also consists of 36 bridges and overpasses, including 12 steel bridges.
In addition, the project includes six mountain tunnels and one cut-to-cover tunnel as well as important river crossings on the Ulhas, Vaitarna and Jagani rivers. In this section, three bullet train stations will be constructed in Thane, Virar and Boisar.
Construction of the underwater tunnel begins
Meanwhile, NHSRCL has started construction of India’s first 21 km undersea tunnel between subway stations at Bandra-Kurla complex (in Mumbai) and Shilphata (near Thane district) as part of the project.
The tunnel work was done using three boring machines. These machines are used to build a section of about 16 km and the remaining 5 km will be built using the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM).
The total cost of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor is estimated at 1.08 lakh crore. According to the shareholding pattern, the Indian government has to pay Rs 10,000 crore to NHSRCL while the two states involved are Gujarat and Maharashtra. Each of them will have to pay Rs 5,000 crore. The remaining amount will be financed by Japan through a loan with an interest rate of 0.1 percent.
