The National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) announced on Monday (8 January) that it has completed 100 per cent land acquisition for the 508.17-km Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) project.
According to the progress report shared by Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on X, out of the 1389.49 Ha of land required for the project, 951.41 Ha has been acquired in Gujarat, 7.9 Ha in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and 430.45 Ha has been acquired in Maharashtra.
The country’s first ‘bullet’ train, nicknamed for its bullet-like shape and speed, with 12 stations en route, is currently under construction.
The high-speed rail, operating at 320 kilometres per hour, will traverse West India’s landscape, covering the 508.17 km distance between Mumbai and Ahmedabad in just about 2 hours and seven minutes. This will save time compared to the current travel time between the two terminal stations by about nine hours (by bus) or six hours (by conventional railways).
The National High-Speed Rail Corporation, the special purpose vehicle to implement the project, has already awarded all 11 civil contracts for the corridor.
The 11 civil packages of the MAHSR corridor comprise 465 km-long viaducts, 12 HSR stations, 3 rolling stock depots, 28 steel bridges comprising 10 km of viaduct, 24 river bridges, and 9 tunnels, including a 7 km-long undersea tunnel, India’s first.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has provided financial support for the project through a soft loan amounting to Rs 88,000 crore from Japan.
Initially estimated at Rs 1.10 lakh crore, the project was anticipated to conclude by 2022; however, it encountered challenges related to land acquisition.
The government has now set a target to run the first phase of the bullet train between Surat and Bilimora in south Gujarat by 2026.