Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train: First Stretch Will Be Ready By 2026, Says Ashwini Vaishnaw
The first leg of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed train, from Billimora to Surat, would be completed by 2026, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said to media reporters outside Vikroli Shaft on February 23. Vaishnaw carried out the first remote-controlled blasting for tunnel digging work at the Vikhroli shaft, signalling the start of tunnel boring operations.
During his visit to Mumbai, the minister stated that tests on the Billimora-Surat route will take place utilising the E5 series of Shinkansen trains once finished.
In Gujarat, more than 250 miles of girders have already been inaugurated.
However, he did not specify an exact date for completing the 508-kilometer route.
He also stated that the country’s first bullet train project had been postponed due to previous Maharashtra government delays.
If the Uddhav Thackeray government hadn’t halted the project, a lot more work would have been finished in Maharashtra by now, Vaishnaw said.
Meanwhile, the railroads in Mumbai have commenced heavy excavating at four spots to build a 21-kilometer tunnel.
Work is also underway at Vikhroli, Thane, and Sawli near Ghansoli, all of which serve as entrances to the underground train tunnel.
The tunnel’s deepest portion, 56 metres underground, will be in Vikhroli, where Godrej & Boyce handed up land to the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) in February 2023.
However, actual tunnel construction will not begin until a year later, when the entrance sites are completed and tunnel boring machines (TBM) are brought in.
