Vossing to prepare pre-feasibility report for the Mumbai-Nagpur Hi Speed Rail Corridor

German firm Vossing to prepare pre-feasibility report for Mumbai-Nagpur corridor by November.The state government has given the go-ahead for preparation of a pre-feasibility study on a high speed train network — which will connect the financial capital to Nagpur and other routes in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) — to Germany-based international consultant Vossing. The move is the initial step in a broad plan to accelerate travel between the country’s financial capital and satellite cities.The pre-feasibility report will cover issues like possible routes, technology to be used and financial pattern for funding the project, which the state plans to undertake on a public private partnership (PPP) basis. Senior state planning department officials said that the German firm is scheduled to submit its report by November.
The results of the study, work on which was awarded in mid-June after considering the bidders’ technical and financial scores and past experience, will subsequently lead to the preparation of a detailed project report (DPR).
Six parties had responded to the state government’s call for tenders for the pre-feasibility study.
“The consultants will also suggest the technology to be used for the project, including the magnetic levitation (Maglev) technology,” added an official. The state is aiming to starting high speed trains (expected to attain a speed of over 300 km per hour) on the Mumbai-Nagpur corridor, which will run through Pune and the eastern part of the state’s dust bowl of Marathwada. This will ensure that people can travel to Mumbai from other parts of the state in the least possible time.
Some routes are also proposed in the MMR, said the official, adding that these routes would have to be different from those planned by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). “The agency will study the traffic patterns and development and discuss the issue with the MMRDA,” said the official, adding that work had already started.“We have not set a target for starting the actual physical work. The study may even say that routes may be uneconomical,” the official pointed out.