Bullet Train Work To Start In Maharashtra Only After Monsoon

13 January, 2019

MUMBAI: With land acquisition in Maharashtra lagging, the MumbaiAhmedabad bullet train project work is expected to take off in the state only post-monsoon.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRC), which is implementing the high-speed train corridor project, has been finding land acquisition in Maharashtra to be an uphill task despite loosening its purse strings.

A senior NHSRC official associated with the project said, “We can do the preparatory work or even invite and finalise tenders, but the actual work on the ground will being in Mumbai, Thane and Palghar only after the end of monsoon .”

He said that the designs and drawings for the terminal building at Bandra-Kurla Complex are in the final stages of approval and once the permissions are received, tenders can be floated and awarded. “Even here, the work on ground will begin only after monsoon.

In Palghar, locals are refusing to budge even as NHSRC and revenue officials have been making several attempts. At some places, they are not allowing land surveyors to even set foot in their villages and to control the situation, police personnel have to be called. The locals are upset as they feel they will not be able to reap the benefits of the bullet train which is meant to serve the “affluent class” of Mumbai and Gujarat. In Maharashtra,a total of 353 hectares of land is to be acquired in 108 villages. Nearly 155km of the bullet train will pass through the state and have stations at BKC, Thane and Boisar. The land acquisition process was to be completed by December 2018 but as of today, only five people have given their consent and only 9.29 hectares of land has been acquired in Bhiwandi area.

The first trial run of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train will be carried out on the 50km stretch between Billimora and Surat before August 15, 2022, even though the complete corridor may not be up by then.

The bullet train, which will run at 350kmph, will cover a distance of 508km in a little over two hours. The original deadline to start bullet train service was set for 2023, but was later advanced by a year to August 15, 2022, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to mark 75 years of Independence

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com