NHSRCL Drives Electricity for Bullet Train Dream

The National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL) has recently entered into an agreement to oversee the electrical works associated with the Ahmedabad-Mumbai high-speed rail project.

Under this agreement, the contracted company will undertake various responsibilities, including the design, manufacturing, supply, construction, installation, testing, and commissioning of 25 kV electrification systems capable of accommodating speeds of up to 320 km/hour. NHSRCL has also allocated approximately 4.8 hectares of land necessary for constructing the BKC station to the appointed contractor.

The construction approach for the station will follow a bottom-up methodology, initiating excavation from ground level and progressing with concrete work from the foundation upwards. Extensive excavation work, reaching depths of 32 meters and comprising an approximate volume of 18 lakh cubic meters, has already commenced for the station. Tunnel boring machines (TBMs) with a cutter head diameter of 13.6 meters will be employed to construct the tunnel in Maharashtra, covering about 16 kilometers of its length. The remaining five kilometers will be constructed using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM).

The tunnel will range from 25 to 57 meters in depth from ground level, with the deepest point situated 114 meters beneath the Parsik Hill near Shilphata. To facilitate construction, three shafts will be established at Bandra-Kurla Centre, Vikhroli, and Sawli, at depths of approximately 36, 56, and 39 meters, respectively. Additionally, an inclined shaft of 42 meters at Ghansoli and a tunnel portal at Shilphata will aid in the construction of approximately five kilometers of the tunnel using the NATM method.

Currently, there are 681 laborers and supervisors actively engaged on-site, and this number is anticipated to grow as the project progresses.

News by Rahul Yelligetti