NEW DELHI: The National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) has sought bids for the construction of a 21-km-long tunnel including India’s first undersea tunnel for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project.
A 7-km portion of the 21-km-long tunnel will be constructed under the sea, making it to be India’s first.
The work on the corridor has gained momentum after the change in government in Maharashtra, with tenders, which were previously floated and withdrawn, being renewed again, sources said.
Considered the highlight of the project, the tunnel will be built between the underground station at Bandra-Kurla Complex and Shilphata in the Thane district of Maharashtra. The tunnel will be built using a tunnel boring machine and the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM), according to the tender document.
The 7-km undersea tunnel at Thane Creek will be the first undersea tunnel to come up in the country.
In November last year, NHSRCL invited bids for underground tunnelling works for the project.
But it was cancelled this year with officials citing “administrative reasons”.
In 2019, NHSRCL had first invited tenders for the project but didn’t attract any bidder. It again floated tenders in November 2021.