December 3, 2020: The officials informed on December 1, 2020, that Indian railways has got all the requisite forestry, wildlife, and coast regulation clearances in Maharashtra and Gujarat for Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor of 508 km.
The Railway Board Chairman and CEO, V.K. Yadav while addressing a virtual press conference informed that the requisite forestry, wildlife, and coastal regulation zone clearances in both the states have been obtained and out of 1,651 utilities, 1,070 utilities have been shifted for the project. The Chairman also informed that Railways have also got 67% of the land which is required for the Bullet Train Project.
Key Highlights:
- While giving the break up of the land acquired in Gujarat, V.K. Yadav added, 825 hectares out of 956 hectares have also been acquired, which is a total of 86%.
- In Maharashtra state, 97 hectares out of 432 hectares of land has been acquired which is 22% of the total land acquired. While 7 hectares out of eight-hectare land has been acquired by the department in Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
- Indian Railways has floated the tenders worth Rs. 32,000 crores in Gujarat for the ambitious project which will cover 325 km viaduct and five stations.
The initial deadline for completing the project was December 2023. While commenting on the progress of the Dedicated Freight Corridor, Railway Board Chairman informed that by June 2022, DFC will be completed.
- The bullet trains under the project are expected to run at the speed of 350 km per hour covering the 508 km stretch in just about 2 hours.
- Trains currently on the route take about 7 hours to travel the distance while flight takes about an hour.
Largest Rail Infrastructure Project:
On September 14, 2017, PM Modi and the then Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe had laid the foundation stone of the ambitious project worth Rs. 1.08 lakh crores ($17 billion).
The Dedicated Freight Corridor is one of the largest infrastructure rail projects which has been undertaken by the government and its overall cost is estimated to be Rs. 81,459 crores.
The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited-DFCCIL has been set up by the government for development, planning, construction, mobilization of financial resources, maintenance, and the operation of the project.
In its first phase, the organization has been constructing the Eastern DFC of 1,856 km and Western DFC of 1,504 km. The total length will be 3,360 km.
Source: Jagranjosh
