L&T to construct Thane, Virar and Boisar stations of high-speed rail line

The stations will have amenities that include ticketing and waiting areas, a business-class lounge, a nursery, restrooms, smoking rooms, information kiosks, incidental retail centres and a public information and announcement system

Mumbai: The construction of Thane, Virar and Boisar stations of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) will start soon. On July 19, the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd. (NHSRCL) awarded Larsen & Toubro (L&T) a substantial contract worth ₹15,697 crore for the project.

New Delhi, July 02 (ANI): Aerial view of a bridge constructed by NHSRCL for Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor, on Sunday. (ANI Photo) (ANI Pic Service)

This is the last leg of civil work that needs to be done for constructing the 508-km-long bullet train on this route. Meanwhile, the authorities have begun work at Bandra-Kurla Complex where the bullet train will depart from Mumbai.

The stations will have amenities that include ticketing and waiting areas, a business-class lounge, a nursery, restrooms, smoking rooms, information kiosks, incidental retail centres and a public information and announcement system.

According to the officials of NHSRCL, the last civil package termed C-3, has spread across an alignment of 135 km between Shilphata and Zaroli village on the Maharashtra-Gujarat border.

The works will also include construction of the three stations, six tunnels and the longest bridge of 2km over Vaitarna River on this high-speed rail line. “With this, all three civil packages within Maharashtra that include construction of BKC station (C1), 21 km-long tunnels, including 7km undersea tunnel (C2) and 135 km of alignment (C3) for the high-speed rail corridor have been awarded. The three stations at Thane, Virar and Boisar will be elevated while the BKC one will be an underground station,” said an official from NHSRCL.

The last leg is important considering the paucity of land that NHSRCL was facing for this project for a long time. In fact, in February, they finally announced the designs of the stations plus they got the land in Vikhroli for this project.

Sources said that this also marks the award of all the 11 civil packages of the 508 km long corridor, comprising 465 km long viaducts, 12 stations, 3 rolling stock depots, 28 steel bridges, 24 river bridges, 9 tunnels including 7 km long India’s first undersea tunnel. The entire MAHSR corridor is divided into 28 contract packages, out of which 11 are civil packages, which were awarded in a span of 33 months.

This mega infrastructure project is expected to consume 1.6 crore cubic meter of cement and 17 lakh MT of steel. The engineers from NHSRCL said that to expedite the construction of viaducts, for the first time in India, full span girders of 40m length weighting 970 tonnes have been launched through one of a kind Full Span Launching Equipment set.

This technology is about 10 times faster than the conventional segment launching technology. The tenders for track works for the complete MAHSR section in Gujarat covering 352 km out of total 508 km have also been awarded.

Details of C-3

• Total length 135 km between Shilphata & Zaroli village

• Viaduct & Bridges: 124 km

• Bridges & Crossings: 36 Nos. including 12 steel bridges

• Stations: 3 (Thane, Virar & Boisar)

• Mountain tunnels: 6

• River Bridges: Ulhas River, Vaitarna and Jagani, longest bridge (2.28 km) of this project will be on Vaitarna river