L&T Scores "Mega Order" for Bullet Train to Power 508 km Track

16 Jan 2024 , 12:58 PM

For the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) announced on January 16 that its construction division had received a ‘mega order’ to build 508 km route of high-speed electrification. The order has been obtained from an official Japanese agency, the business stated.

‘The railways strategic business group of L&T Construction has secured a mega contract to ….construct 508 route km of high-speed electrification system works for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project, popularly referred to as the bullet train project,’ according to a filing with the BSE.

When this electrification system is finished, trains will be able to reach speeds of up to 320 km/h.

The project is being carried out by an authorised Japanese agency working on behalf of National High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd., and it is being sponsored by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), according to the business.

Although L&T did not reveal the precise amount of the contract, an order is considered ‘mega’ if its worth is Rs 10,000–15,000 crore.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had stated earlier on January 11 that the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project is moving along at a very satisfactory pace. When pressed by reporters, the minister, however, declined to provide a completion date for the project.

‘We advance section by section in a linear project. The project is complicated, but the work is moving along quite quickly,’ he remarked.

‘After reviewing the project, I am quite satisfied and impressed with its progress,’ stated the minister.

A 272 kilometre section of the 508 km long project that connects Ahmedabad and Mumbai has had a viaduct raised. There are eight rivers on the route and bridges have been erected across five of them, Vaishnaw said. The minister reaffirmed that the deadline to complete the 50-km-long segment between Surat and Billimora is 2026 and the work is advancing according to the plan. According to Vaishnaw, the country’s economic growth will benefit from the bullet train corridor’s integration of major economic hubs like Mumbai, Thane, Vapi, Surat, Vadodara, Anand, and Ahmedabad.

Bullet trains will travel at 320 kmph along the nation’s first high-speed rail track, which is scheduled to open in 2017 and connect Ahmedabad and Mumbai. The project is being carried out by National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited, which set a date of 2022 to complete the entire project. However, this timeframe was later extended.

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