Rs 24,000 crore bullet train contract creates record

NEW DELHI: The National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL) on Thursday signed the country’s largest ever government-funded civil contract of Rs 24,000 crore for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project with infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro (L&T).

The construction company said they have deployed people on ground to start work. The NHRSCL has awarded work for 325 km falling in Gujarat to L&T. TOI on Thursday had reported that PM Modi asked the railways to go ahead with the work in Gujarat portion and complete it rather than waiting for Maharashtra to get the required land for this flagship project.

Speaking on the occasion, the Japanese ambassador to India Satoshi Suzuki said the contract for such a mammoth infrastructure project has been awarded at a time when it was required to accelerate economic activities. He said the project will not only help in transfer of Japanese technologies to India but it will also transform urban development along its corridor.

Railway board CEO and chairman, V K Yadav, said that after completion of this first bullet train project, the government will take up more such train corridors on seven more routes. There will be employment generation not only for professionals like engineers, technicians, designers and architects but also for skilled and semi-skilled workforce and construction workers.