20.10.20

L&T set to build 47% of bullet train corridor

Larsen & Toubro has emerged as the lowest bidder for the design and construction of the largest segment of the high speed rail line between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The company bid Rs.24,985 crore to build 237.1 km of the 508.17-km corridor, beating two other bids led by Tata Projects and Afcons Infrastructure Ltd.

L&T’s segment starts at the Maharashtra-Gujarat boundary, extends till Vadodara station, and includes four stations at Vapi, Bilimora, Surat and Bharuch in Gujarat. The work includes design and construction of civil works, including viaducts, bridges, maintenance depots, tunnels and stations.

The National High Speed Rail Corporation had invited bids for the bullet train project on March 15 last year. Technical bids were opened on September 23 this year, in which three bidders qualified. The other two bidders were consortiums of Tata Projects Ltd-J Kumar Infraprojects Ltd-NCC Ltd JV, and Afcons Infrastructure Ltd-Ircon International Ltd-JMC Projects India Ltd JV. The NHSRCL opened financial bids on Monday.

A spokesperson for the National High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd said the three bidders The project, which will cover Mumbai-Ahmedabad in just two hours, is estimated to cost Rs.1.08 lakh-crore. The Japan International Cooperation Agency is providing 80 per cent of the funding through a soft loan. The remaining cost has to be borne by Maharashtra and Gujarat in the form of land acquisitions. The project is developed through the Japanese E5 Shinkansen technology, which has a zero-fatality record.

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