National High Speed Rail Corp. opens tender for bullet train, all seven bidders are Indian

NEW DELHI: The National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL) on Wednesday opened the bids for first tender entailing investment of around Rs 20,000 crore for construction work for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project. All the bidders for this 237 km length of the mainline falling in Gujarat are Indian companies.

NHSRCL said this is one of the biggest tenders covering 47% of the bullet train alignment between Vapi and Vadodara in Gujarat. This work also includes construction of four stations on this corridor.

According to an official release, three bidders involving seven major infrastructure companies have participated in the competitive bidding. Two of these are consortiums, Afcons Infrastructure– IRCON International–JMC Projects India and NCC–Tata Project-J Kumar Infra Projects, and the company that has put a bid on its own is Larsen and Toubro.

Officials said the 237 km corridor will cross 24 rivers and 30 road crossings. “This entire section is in Gujarat where more than 83% of the land has been acquired for the project,” the NHSRCL spokesperson said.

TOI on September 6 had reported that there is a high possibility of the government starting operations of the country’s first bullet trains project before next Lok Sabha election at least in the Gujarat portion. The land acquisition has been delayed in Maharashtra. On Wednesday, the railway ministry informed the Rajya Sabha that the delay in land acquisition before March 2020, particularly in Maharashtra, was due to “resistance of local residents at some locations.”

A major portion of the project corridor – 349 km out of total 508 km – falls in Gujarat. In Maharashtra, barely 23% land has been acquired.