Breaking Records For Bullet Train Project: India To Issue Its Highest Valued Tender For High-Speed Rail Corridor

India’s bullet train project, which is being developed with Japan’s assistance, is progressing on schedule and will soon issue a tender in relation to the construction of a 508-kilometre corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, as reported by Financial Express (FE).

“In this case, we are promising that by 15 August 2022, the bullet train will start running, that means people will start travelling in it,” said Mr Achal Khare, Managing Director of National High-Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL), the company executing NDA government’s ambitious project.

Mr Khare said that the company would soon issue what is billed to be, India’s highest valued tender, amounting to over Rs 1,000 crore. It will involve the construction of the 237-km viaduct and the four stations namely Vapi, Bilimora, Surat and Bharuch.

The project is also expected to provide a fillip to India’s domestic steel industry as 90 thousand tonnes of locally sourced steel will be used in the project's construction. To provide a boost to ‘Make In India’ programme, India has also proposed to manufacture bullet trains in India, thereby cutting costs.

The Rs 1.1 lakh crores Mumbai–Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor is India's first high-speed rail project. PM Modi and his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, laid the foundation stone in September 2017. to manufacture bullet trains in India, thereby making them cheaper and ready to be exported to other countries.

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