Bullet train: Work on 21-km tunnel between BKC and Thane to begin soon

With the Supreme Court clearing the last hurdle to the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, the National High Speed Rail Corridor Limited (NHSRCL) will now start the preliminary works on the Vikhroli land

With the Supreme Court clearing the last hurdle to the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, the National High Speed Rail Corridor Limited (NHSRCL) will now start the preliminary works on the Vikhroli land.

Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe at Ground Breaking ceremony of Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project, in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Union Minister for Railways and Coal, Piyush Goyal is also seen. PTI Photo/ pib(PTI9_14_2017_000028B) (PTI)

“We are aiming to start the initial works in the next two months and at the same time we shall place orders for tunnel boring machines to drill for a tunnel,” an official from NHSRCL said.

The possible works that will be taken up soon are to clear the 3.92 hectares at Vikhroli, barricade the boundaries, and start drilling a 21-km-long tunnel between Bandra Kurla Complex and Thane, which will cost ₹10,000 crore.

The depth of this tunnel will vary from 25 metres to 65 metres. It will be around 45 metres deep below Thane creek and the stretch will be 7-km long. The deepest will be under Parsik Hill at 114 metres.

“We will be digging from both ends for which shafts will be created at BKC, Vikhroli, and Sawli in Ghansoli. The approximate cost per km of the tunnel is around ₹500 crore,” the official said.