New Delhi, Oct 8 (IANS) The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), which is looking after the work of the 508 km-long Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet train project, said on Thursday that it has invited bids for the design and construction of Ahmedabad and Sabarmati stations along with 18 km of viaduct.
NHSRCL spokesperson Sushma Gaur said that it has invited bids for design and construction of about 18 km of viaduct between Anand and Sabarmati, including high-speed rail (HSR) stations in Ahmedabad and Sabarmati for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor.
She said that the alignment also has 31 crossing bridges, including six steel truss bridges. Gaur said that in the last few days, the NHSRCL has opened three technical bids covering 64 per cent, about 325 km out of 508 km, of the total Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR), popularly known as Bullet train project, including five HSR stations — Vapi, Billimora, Surat, Bharuch and Anand/Nadiad — out of the 12 stations.
According to NHSRCL officials, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor will traverse through Western Railway’s Ahmedabad Junction railway station and shall be integrated with the Saraspur side of the existing Ahmedabad station.
The Ahmedabad HSR station will be built over the existing railway platform No. 11 and 12. An NHSRCL official said that to ensure seamless integration of the Bullet train station with other modes of rail transport, it has designed a user-friendly station layout for Ahmedabad.
“An integrated building for passenger transit is planned on the eastern side of the existing railway station, where passengers will be able to swiftly switch from one mode to another. The integrated building shall provide connection to Western Railway’s existing foot over bridges to facilitate passenger movement to and from Indian Railways platforms and underground metro station on Saraspur side,” the official said.
Pointing at the design of the Sabarmati station, the official said that the station being the terminal station of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor, the NHSRCL has planned to develop it as a vibrant multimodal transport hub in the region.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then Japan Premier Shinzo Abe had on September 14, 2017 laid the foundation stone for the ambitious Rs 1.08 lakh crore ($17 billion) project.
The initial deadline to complete the ambitious project was December 2023. The bullet trains are expected to run at 350 km per hour covering the 508-km stretch in about two hours. In comparison, trains currently plying on the route take over seven hours to travel the distance, whereas flights take about an hour.
–IANS
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