Updated: September 5, 2020 11:10:06 am
Workers at the Sabarmati center of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project in Ahmedabad. (Express / Stock Photo)
FROM THE LOW turnout of Japanese companies to the bids canceled due to high fees quoted by bidders, India’s first bullet train project is stalled on multiple fronts, and is around five years behind schedule.
The Indian Express learned that Railways now expects the project to be fully commissioned by October 2028, rather than the original December 2023 schedule. The revised schedule has been estimated after discussions with the Japanese team that is working on the project.sources said.
“Perhaps we can reduce the schedule to some extent if all outstanding issues are resolved quickly. But in such a complex technical project, the timeline cannot be greatly compressed, ”a senior official told The Indian Express.
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The 508 km Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor is being built with an 80% loan from Japan at 0.1% interest and a 15-year moratorium, and the system will be built primarily with Japanese technology in the Shinkansen lines. .
India had been interested in opening at least part of the project by August 2022, coinciding with 75 years of Independence. And the Railways officially maintain that the original timeline is still in effect.
“Based on the feasibility study, the target date for project completion is December 2023,” said a spokesperson for National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), the implementing agency, which was established in 2016 with equity participation from the Ministry of Railways and the governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat.
However, The Indian Express learned that the tender for the most crucial section, a 21 km underground stretch, which includes a seven km section under the sea near Mumbai, did not involve Japanese participation and could not be finalized in the first try before. this year.
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In addition, in many of the 11 tenders originally intended to be executed by Japanese companies, the prices quoted were up to 90 percent higher than the estimates indicated by the project consultants. India has refused to accept the enormous escalation, it is known.
Building the 21 km stretch alone would require large and advanced drilling machines that would employ a special technical method to safeguard a nearby flamingo sanctuary in Maharashtra; this would require more than 60 months to complete, according to the latest assessments.
The other area of concern is the procurement of rolling stock. According to the Japanese, only Kawasaki and Hitachi are eligible to supply the trains. However, it was found that both companies could jointly submit a single bid, leading to a single bidding situation, which the Indian side wanted to avoid or have a call taken “at the highest level”, the sources said.
An India-Japan Joint Committee meeting, which could not take place earlier this year prior to the Covid outbreak, is expected to resolve outstanding issues as they are beyond the scope of the Ministry or implementing agency, they said. the sources.
“A clearer picture about the possible delay will emerge only after the next Joint Committee meeting between the two countries,” said an official.
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The sources also said that the resignation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for health reasons will not officially affect the deliberations. However, they acknowledged that it was Abe’s personal relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that helped push the project forward in many critical areas.
According to the original feasibility study, works were supposed to have started in December 2017. But currently, only about 100 hectares of the required 430 hectares in Maharashtra have been acquired. In Gujarat, thanks to the active support of the state government, the process to acquire about 1,000 hectares will be complete by the end of the year.
Railways has also made a political decision to allow Indian companies to bid for civil construction, including the stretch and tracks of the 21 km tunnel. Three critical civil works tenders are scheduled to open in September for the Mumbai station and other large sections of the project.
Referring to the progress made so far, the NHSRCL spokesperson said: “About 63 percent of the land has been acquired for the project and tenders have already been submitted for civil works for 345 km of 508 km of alignment (68 percent of civil works). This includes six stations (including a subway station in Mumbai). Works related to the diversion of public services are progressing well and construction has also started on the Sabarmati passenger center in Sabarmati. The High Speed Training Institute shelter building (currently being used for Covid patients) and the training tracks in Vadodara were also completed. “
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