Civil works for Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train to be awarded by March 2020

Even as land acquisition is on for India's first multi-crore, high speed bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, the civil works for the project are expected to be awarded by the end of current financial year. Achal Khare, managing director of National High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL), said in Ahmedabad on Thursday that they are in need of 1,380-hectare land for the project. Of this, 622 hectare has already been acquired. 

The more than Rs 1.10-lakh crore project is expected to be completed by December 2023, with the Japanese government expected to give 81 per cent of the amount as loan at an interest rate of 0.1 per cent to be repaid over a period of 50 years. The reduced time of travel is expected to help Mumbai-Ahmedabad passengers, especially businessmen. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe had conducted groundbreaking ceremony in Ahmedabad in September 2017. 

Khare said that they had already given Rs 1,800 crore for the 360-hectare land acquired in Gujarat. Replying to a question on farmers' objection to give their land, Khare said in majority of the cases the problem was because the land revenue rates were low as of 2011. According to him, the rates were increased with the help of the Gujarat government.

He said that joint measurement surveys were taken along with the stakeholders in Gujarat and Maharashtra. In Maharashtra, they need only one-third of the total project land and 138 sale deeds were already executed. Khare admitted that in Palghar they faced problems, but blamed it on what he termed as "misgivings".

The NHSRCL MD was hopeful that by the time the contracts are awarded, the land acquisition process would be completed. He said they were trying to get the land through mutual consent only and forceful acquisition might be done only if there was any internal dispute between the two parties. 

The corporation has floated tenders for the civil works and these would be opened in the course of the next couple of months. Tender has also been floated for the seven-kilometre long under sea tunnel in Maharashtra.

The bullet train, having a seating capacity of 750, will cover a distance of 508 kilometre at a speed of 320 kilometre per hour. From Ahmedabad to Mumbai, the train will take two hours and seven minutes. There will be eight stations in Gujarat and four in Maharashtra. In Ahmedabad, the bullet train station will be linked with the terminus of the Western Railway for easy passenger access.

He said in the entire project corridor, they have planned to transplant 20,000 to 25,000 trees with the aid of cranes. So far 134 trees have been transplanted at other locations. 

Currently, the work is on to cap a few oil wells of the ONGC and shift 1,600 electrical utilities, including 150 extra, high-voltage utilities, in both the states. According to him, currently 50 per cent work is completed.

Initially, the bullet train will have 70 trips, 35 each both ways, a day. The fare, according to Khare would be 1.5 times first AC fare of the railways, which comes to Rs 3,000. He said that this emerged during a joint feasibility survey in which the surveyors asked the people their willingness to pay. 

Khare said that when the project is completed, a survey for the pricing would be undertaken again. He said that he was not in favour of dynamic pricing. He said that though there won't be any seasonal passes for those commuting daily, there will be discounts if the passengers buy tickets for a month or two.