Consultants appointed for Mumbai - Ahmedabad high speed railway link

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rA tripartite consultancy pact with Railway Ministry and National High Speed Rail Corporation for the high-speed railway project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad has been inked by Japanese funding agency JICA.

National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRC) of India, Japan International Consultants for Transportation (JIC), Nippon Koei, and the Oriental Consultants Global Company Limited joint venture has been appointed as general consultants to execute India’s first high-speed rail corridor linking Mumbai with Ahmedabad.

JICA promotes smooth implementation of the Mumbai- Ahmedabad High Speed Railway Project by signing the Memorandum for General Consultancy, the funding agency said in a statement. 

The general consultants (GC) will provide design and bidding assistance for the public works and systems required for the construction of the high-speed corridor.

A Rs. 18bn ($US 290.3m) Jica grant will support the cost of setting up and managing the general consultant consortium, while officials confirmed that to prevent delays in project implementation, the group can proceed with their work as the details of the loan agreement are negotiated and finalised.

High-speed trains are expected to cover the 508km between the two cities in about two hours, running at a maximum speed of 350km/h.

While most part of the corridor is proposed to be on the elevated track, there will be a stretch after Thane creek towards Virar which will go under the sea as per the detailed project report by JICA. 

Initially pegged at Rs 976.4bn, the project’s costs are likely to shoot up to Rs 1076 billion due to the decision to use a predominately elevated alignment. Jica is providing 80% of the finance for the project.

IR officials expect civil works to commence in 2018 following the completion of the design and bidding process.