Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the first section of the High Speed Rail Corridor between Surat and Bilimora will start in 2026. He was speaking to reporters after reviewing the construction activity of the 508-km-long corridor in Mumbai on Friday. Stating that the high-speed line will usher in economic growth, Mr. Vaishnaw said that the 284-km-long bullet train corridor viaduct is ready in Gujarat. He added that the construction work is picking up speed in Maharashtra with the Eknath Shinde led government giving necessary approvals.
The minister said High Speed Rail Corridors will ensure low cost and time saving transportation facility for India’s megacities in the future. He said the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet train project will be a learning experience for construction of other such corridors across India.
Meanwhile, an official press release informs that land acquisition for the project across Gujarat and Maharashtra has been completed while all civil contracts, depot and electric contracts have also been awarded. The laying of the first Reinforced Concrete track as used in Japanese Shinkansen has started in Surat and Anand. Notably, this is for the first time, the J-slab ballastless track system is being used in India.
Meanwhile, work on all eight Bullet Train Stations in Gujarat is under various stages of construction while the work for Mumbai’s Bullet train station has also started. Currently, construction activity on Mumbai’s Bullet train station spans 4.8 hectares of land, requiring a massive excavation, reaching a depth of 32 meters with an approximate volume of around 18 lakh cubic meters, out of which two lakh has already been excavated. A total of 774 laborers and supervisors are on-site, working day and night, using high-end instrumentation to ensure all safety parameters.
Additionally, work has also commenced on India’s first 7 km undersea rail tunnel which is a part of 21 km long tunnel between BKC and Shilphata in Maharashtra.
