The Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train Project is Picking Up Pace

With the change of government in Maharashtra, the pace of work on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project has accelerated. The state's long-pending land acquisition issue is expected to be resolved soon, with officials stating that 1.2 hectares of additional land in Palghar have been acquired in the last 10 days alone.

The Eknath Shinde-led government won a majority in the Maharashtra assembly on July 4. During the previous Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government, work on the Maharashtra side of the project slowed. Officials said another long-pending issue, the relocation of a Bharat Petroleum Corp petrol pump on a plot in the Bandra Kurla Complex, had been resolved (BKC).

This plot of land has been designated for the construction of a high-speed train terminus. The underground structure will be three stories tall, with six platforms on the lowest level. Officials expect the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to issue directives on this.

The high-speed rail project, which was announced in September 2017, is expected to require land for 508 route kilometres. When the project was announced, the total cost was estimated to be Rs.1.1 lakh crore. With the recent developments, 90.56 percent of the required land for the entire project has been acquired. Gujarat has 98.8 percent, Dadar Nagar Haveli has 100 percent, and Maharashtra has 72.25 percent.