Tatas, L&T, IRCON among 7 infra majors to bid for Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project

New Delhi: Seven infrastructure majors, including Larsen and Toubro, Tata Projects, Afcons Infrastructure Limited, and IRCON International Limited are in the race for constructing the Mumbai- Ahmedabad High Speed Rail corridor.
Technical bids for the design and construction of 237 km length of mainline of the stretch were opened on Wednesday, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited, which is the implementing agency of the project said in a statement.

The said tender covers about 47% of total alignment of 508 km, between Vapi and Vadodara in the state of Gujarat.

Bids were received in two consortia-- Afcons Infrastructure Limited – IRCON International Limited – JMC Projects India Ltd- Consortium, NCC Limited – Tata Project Ltd.- J. Kumar Infra Projects Ltd. - HSR Consortium-- while L&T was the only sole bidder for the project.

Interestingly, all bidders are Indian, while foreign companies have skipped the bids.

Chairman Railway Board VK Yadav at a recent press conference had said that more than 80% land acquisition completed in Gujarat, while the pace was ramping up in Maharashtra, for the high speed rail corridor.

This entire section for which technical bids opened on Wednesday is in Gujarat State where more than 83% of the land has been acquired for the project.

The bullet train project, which has been targeted for completion in December 2023, has faced some hurdles in land acquisition due to resistance from farmers as well as the outbreak of Covid-19.

"As the COVID19 situation improves, the Railways will start the bidding process and within the next three to six months, we will be able to get the status of land acquired. It will then be the appropriate time to reassess the project. Once the land status is ascertained, we can provide a real timeframe for the completion of the project," Yadav had said.

The 508.17-kilometre long network will pass through three districts in Maharashtra (Mumbai, Thane, and Palghar) and eight districts in Gujarat (Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Kheda, and Ahmedabad).