National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited preparing DPR for seven high-speed rail corridors: Ashwini Vaishnaw

National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited is preparing Detailed Project Reports (DPR) for seven high-speed rail corridors, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday.

With the experience of execution of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project, the work of other corridors will be faster, the Minister said.

He was addressing a gathering after flagging off indigenously designed and manufactured- Full Span Launching Equipment-Straddle Carrier and Girder Transporter to expedite the construction of a viaduct for Mumbai- Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail corridor through video conferencing.

On Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor, which is touted as the first bullet train project of the country, the Minister said work has already begun on 325 km (in Gujarat) out of 508 km corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. More than 97% land has been acquired for the project in Gujarat and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and 30% land in Maharashtra.

"More than 6,000 workers are already working at various construction sites for the project, thus creating employment opportunities for the local youth. It is estimated that the Mumbai Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project will create more than 90,000 jobs in this area including 51,000 jobs for technicians, skilled and unskilled workers," he said.

"This project will boost the overall economy of the area by deploying 1,000s of trucks, dumpers, excavators, batching plants, tunnelling equipment and so on. It is estimated that 7.5 million tonnes of cement, 2.1 million tonnes of steel and 70000 tonnes of structural steel will be used in the construction," the Minister said.

"Full span launching equipment of 1100 MT capacity is indigenously designed and manufactured by M/s Larsen &Toubro at Kanchipuram, Chennai. M/s L&T has partnered with 55 Micro-Small Medium Enterprises (MSME). India is now coming in the select group of countries like Italy, Norway, Korea, and China which have been designing and manufacturing such equipment. This will expedite the construction of high-speed railway, as is the proven technology in metro and similar projects," the Ministry of Railways statement said.

Check out the latest DH videos here: