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.
“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.
As on February 23, NHSRCL has acquired 99.75% of land in Maharashtra while the total land acquired for the 508-km-long corridor stands at 99.17%. Earlier this month, NHSRCL opened technical tenders for tunneling. By March 29, the authorities will open tenders for civil works involving viaduct, bridges, tunnel, maintenance depots at Thane, Virar and Boisar and connecting works for Thane depot between Shilphata and Zaroli on the Gujarat-Maharashtra border, officials said.