The Indian Railways have dropped plans to build overhead High-Speed Rail tracks alongside the existing rail tracks on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route.
India's flagship scheme of connecting the 508-kilometre distance between Mumbai and Ahmedabad through a high-speed corridor to enable the Japanese Shinkansen series of trains to achieve a 320 kmph speed has been gathering cost and time overruns; largely on account of the Maharashtra government's reluctance to spare land for the project.
While 99% of the land required has been acquired in Gujarat and the Union Territory of Dadar, Nagar, Haveli (DNB), only 68% of the land has been made available in Maharashtra. "Within six months of the land being allotted, civil work construction in Maharashtra will begin", said Satish Agnihotri, Managing Director, National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited - project executing agency.
The Maharashtra hurdle
In order to overcome the Maharashtra hurdle, IR officials had been discussing the idea of building the overhead lines alongside railway land already available with the government. The idea has been found to be unworkable for primarily four reasons.
One, the new plan would require major departures in proposed alignments as contained in the Detailed Project Report, with corresponding and adverse spin-off effects on timelines and costs.
Second, it would be difficult for the NHSRCL to obtain "block sections" (stoppage of trains on existing lines to facilitate construction work) on the busy line.
Third, the construction of piers or girders after a gap of every 40 metres could cause safety hazards to passengers travelling on existing lines.
Fourth, the existing lines have too many sharp curvatures, which are considered unsuitable for a high-speed line.
While the pace of land acquisition in Maharashtra has picked up in the past months, there has been little progress in critical sections. These include the land parcel at the Bandra-Kurla complex where an underground high-speed station is proposed.
Apparently, the Maharashtra government wants to build an investment centre at the ground level. IR's suggestions on integrating the investment centre plan with the underground high-speed station has not moved forward.
The NHSRCL has also been struggling to acquire land close to Thane Creek, where a 21 km viaduct including a seven km undersea tunnel is planned. The earlier plan of constructing a bridge covering the entire length of 21 km had been altered, following the Environment Ministry's objections that the bridge would adversely impact birds residing in the nearby Flamingo sanctuary.
For constructing the undersea tunnel, the NHSRCL has had to import expensive Tunnel Boring Machines.
On a review mission earlier this week, the Japanese Ambassador in India Satoshi Suzuki told "NewsDrum.in" at Surat, "Issues relating to project delays or additional costs are being intensively discussed by Indian and Japanese sides. We are trying to ensure that the project gets completed within a reasonable amount of money."
Current project costs are estimated at Rs 108,000 crores, which comes by way of 80% funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on a 50-year loan at interest rates of 0.01%, with a 15-year moratorium on loan repayment.
Gujarat matters
Given the situation of the escalating political disputes between the Maharashtra and the Central Governments, the NHSRCL -at the instructions of the Prime Minister's Office - has launched a drive to complete the Gujarat-DNB sections first.
From Surat to Vapi, Bharuch or Vadodara, the signs of progress are visible: Hectic construction activity at the site for the proposed station at Surat, the increasing length of piers and girders at different locations; the bridge construction activity at selected spots on the Narmada, Tapti, Mahi rivers.
The high-speed station at India's diamond capital of Surat is targeted to be built in late 2023, while the passenger terminal hub at Sabarmati - integrating high speed with the metro, BTR and two stations of the Indian Railways - is scheduled to be completed in August this year.
The inaugural trial run will be taken up on the 47 km long Surat-Bilimora stretch. While the complete 352 km long Gujarat section of India's high-speed project is scheduled for completion only in 2027, the renewed thrust in construction activity in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state does contain a political messaging in favour of the BJP, ahead of this year's state elections and the upcoming Lok Sabha elections of 2024.
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