At present, Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project is the only sanctioned project of High Speed Rail (HSR) in the country which is under execution with the financial and technical assistance from Government of Japan. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), namely National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) has been formed to implement the Project.
- The current status of Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project is as under:-
- The Final Location Survey and Geotechnical investigation completed.
- Alignment finalized.
- Statutory Clearances relating to wildlife, Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and Forest clearance obtained.
- Out of total land requirement of approx. 1396 ha, consent agreement signed/regular award done for approx. 1046 ha land.
- 1342 out of 1651 utilities shifted.
- The entire project work has been divided into 27 Contract Packages including Training Institute at Vadodara. At present, 07 packages have been awarded and 10 more have been invited.
- The total cost incurred on the MAHSR Project upto the June, 2021 is approximately Rs.13,483 crores, mainly on Land Acquisition, Utility Shifting and Contractual Payments.
- The project has suffered delays due to adverse impact of Covid-19 pandemic and slow progress in handing over of land in the State of Maharashtra.
- Further, Ministry of Railways has assigned the work for survey and preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the seven High Speed Rail (HSR) corridors to National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) which include Chennai-Bangalore-Mysore and Mumbai-Pune-Hyderabad routes of South India and the same is under progress.
- This information was given by the Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 23th July 2021.
About the Project:
- NHSRCL is implementing a 508 Km long Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Railway Project (hereinafter called as Project) starting from Bandra Kurla Complex in Maharashtra and terminating at Sabarmati in Gujarat.
- The Project would be developed with the use of Japanese high speed rail technology (i.e. Shinkansen system).
- The length of alignment is 508 Km (approx.) with a double line and will be passing through two states, Maharashtra (155.642 Km) and Gujarat (350.530 Km), and one UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli (2 KMs).
- Most of the alignment, about 92.4%, will be elevated and a small portion of about 2.5% will be on the cut & fill section.
- Twelve stations are proposed at Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad, and Sabarmati.
- The station at Mumbai will be Underground and all other stations will be elevated.
- There are 8 mountain tunnels and one underground tunnel of 21 Km with 7 Km under sea (Thane Creek) portion.
- Two numbers of Rolling stock depot & several maintenance/sub-maintenance depots (35 nos) are proposed along the alignment.
Source: PIB-Press Release | Image Credit (representational): NHSRCL
