Bullet train on track! India set to float “highest valued tender” for first high-speed train project

India’s ambitious bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmadabad, is going to issue the first major tender related to the construction of the 508-kilometre corridor. Achal Khare, Managing Director, NHSRCL was quoted in an HT report saying that the corporation is sealing the tender for the 237-km viaduct and four stations in Gujarat and will float it by the end of December. It is expected that this may be the highest valued tender in the country.

Khare explained that the pre-construction activities in the areas, which include identification of utilities and critical structure, joint measurement survey and geo technical investigation, have been completed and more work will begin soon. To complete the project, the corporation has divided the work in 26 packages. The NHSRCL has targeted awarding the tenders of these packages by the end of 2019, including the procurement of bullet trains.

A large team is involved in the preparation of tender documents and NHSRCL expects the first big tender to be ready by the end of December. The tender will be for the construction of the 237-km viaduct and the four stations namely Vapi, Bilimora, Surat and Bharuch. The exact value of the tender was not revealed but it will run into at least Rs 1000 crores. The NHSRCL has planned to issue tenders for this portion first as this comes in the middle of the corridor and is mostly free from hindrance. Vapi is close to the Maharastra-Gujarat border and the corporation has finalised the design for all these stations.

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Tenders for every package will be issued separately. This includes everything from rolling stock to training institute, civil and electrical work, and construction of depots. Khare added that they are trying to float all 26 packages in 2019 and that Japanese participation will not be necessary at every stage.

The bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad will have 12 stations: Sabarmati, Ahmedabad, Anand, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Bilimora, Vapi, Boisar, Virar, Thane and Mumbai. The train will take 2 hours and 57 minutes between the two cities if it stops at all stations. Of the 12 stations, 8 are in Gujarat and 4 are in Maharashtra. The foundation stone for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project was laid down by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in September last year. PM Modi has set a stiff deadline of August 15, 2022 for flagging off the first bullet train of the country.