Nearly 99 per cent of the total land required for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project has been acquired, according to the information shared by the Ministry of railways.

Out of the total requirement of 1,392.63 hectares for the project, 1,374.20 hectares of land has been acquired. This is a significant boost to the coveted project as only 90 per cent land (1,264 hectares) was acquired until July this year.

The country’s first ‘bullet’ train, a nickname the train gets from its bullet-like shape and speed, will pass through Gujarat, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Maharashtra, with 100 per cent of land acquired in the Union Territory.

In Gujarat, 943.53 hectares out of 954.3 hectares has been acquired, accounting for 98.87 per cent of the total land required in the state. In Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the entire 7.90 hectares land and in Maharashtra, 422.77 hectares out of 430.45 hectares (98.2 per cent) has been acquired.

India’s First Bullet Train Project

Presently, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail is the only sanctioned high-speed rail project in the country.

The High-Speed Rail operating at 320 km/ph will traverse along west India’s landscape, covering 508.17 km distance between Mumbai and Ahmedabad in just about two hours.

This will save time compared to current travel time between the two terminal stations by about nine hours (by bus) or six hours (by conventional railways).

It will cover 155.76 km in Maharashtra, 4.3 km in the Union Territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and 348.04 km in Gujarat, with 12 stations en route.

The project, being executed by the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), is targeted to be completed by December, 2023.

28 Packages

The entire project has been divided into 28 contract packages including Training Institute at Vadodara.

At present, 19 packages have been awarded out of which work for three packages have been completed. One package is under evaluation, Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) has been published for three packages and for the remaining five packages NIT is yet to be published.

The physical progress till 23 November was 24.1 per cent, the Ministry said, adding that while almost 30 per cent of the work has been completed in Gujarat, in Maharashtra, around 13 per cent has so far been achieved.

In Gujarat, the construction of bullet train stations has started in Anand, Surat, Vadodara, Bharuch, Vilimora, Vapi and Navsari districts.

The contract for the construction of a bullet train station at the Bandra-Kurla Complex and the one for the construction of an underground tunnel have also been allotted. Pier and girder works will soon be visible in Maharashtra like in Gujarat, officials said.