Mumbai Bullet Train project going heywire; Rs 45k crores spent
The Mumbai- Ahmedabad Bullet train project may be delayed further. The Centre blamed the Maharashtra government for delay in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) “Bullet Train” Project for failure in land acquisition. Consequently, it also led to the delay in awarding in finalization of contracts that have impacted the project implementation.
Of the seven Bullet trains projects, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project is the only sanctioned High Speed Rail project in the country. Out of total land requirement of approx. 1389.5 hectare about 1381.9 ha. land has been acquired. As many as 1612 out of 1651 utilities have been shifted to pave the way for the project. All the civil contracts of the project have been awarded. But of the 28 contract packages, 23 packages have been awarded.
The project cost of Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Corridor was estimated at Rs. 1,08,000 Crore and completion period was indicated as 8 years in 2015.An expenditure of Rs 45,621.17 Crore have been incurred. However, the timeline of the project is also dependent on availability of land and site. The Ministry of Railways has assigned the work for preparation of Survey/Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the seven High Speed Rail (HSR) Corridor/Project to National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL). These seven routes are; (i) Delhi – Varanasi, (ii) Delhi -Ahmedabad, (iii) Mumbai-Nagpur, (iv) Mumbai -Hyderabad; (v) Chennai – Mysore; (vi) Delhi - Amritsar and Varanasi-Howrah. This was stated by the government in the Rajya Sabha the other day.
