Bids open for India’s high-speed rail

India’s National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHRSCL) has opened the technical bids for construction of a section of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail corridor.

A total of three bidders involving two consortiums and Larsen & Toubro have reportedly expressed interest in the high-speed rail project.

The first consortium includes Afcons Infrastructure, IRCON International and JMC Projects India while the second comprises NCC, Tata Project and J Kumar Infra Projects.

The technical bids are for the design and construction of a 237km section of the corridor, as well as the building of a number of stations.

The tender includes 47% of the total 508km alignment between Vapi and Vadodara.

India does not currently have a high-speed rail network and the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail corridor will be the country’s first. Completion is currently scheduled for December 2023.

In a statement, the Ministry of Railways said, “The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project alone will create more than 90,000 direct and indirect jobs during construction of the project.”