The Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project achieved its third mountain tunnel breakthrough in Maharashtra within five months, marking another milestone in the construction of India’s first high-speed rail corridor.The breakthrough took place in Dahanu taluka of Palghar district in Maharashtra.Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday posted on X, “Mumbai-Amdavad Bullet Train Project achieves another milestone…3rd mountain tunnel breakthrough in Maharashtra within 5 months. Dahanu Taluka, Palghar.”The latest breakthrough comes as construction activity gathers pace across the 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor, nearly nine years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe laid its foundation stone in Ahmedabad in September 2017.Viaducts are rising across both states, undersea tunnel work has begun near Mumbai, stations are taking shape, and India’s first indigenously developed high-speed trainset is expected to roll out by 2027.Among the recent milestones, the project has completed the launching of a viaduct over the Kalupur flyover, a Railway Over Bridge (ROB) on the Sabarmati-Mumbai main line of Western Railway in Ahmedabad district.According to an official release, the viaduct runs parallel to the existing railway line and the launching over the flyover was completed on Monday. The work involved launching a 45-metre-long bridge using the Span-by-Span (SBS) method.The bridge features a 45-metre span over the flyover, a 19.5-metre viaduct from ground to rail level, 19 segments and a total span weight of 1,200 metric tonnes.The Kalupur flyover is among Ahmedabad’s busiest two-lane flyovers, connecting Shahibaug, Asarwa and Kalupur, and is used daily by thousands of commuters.The release stated that the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train corridor passes over 31 crossings in Ahmedabad district. These include eight Indian Railways crossings, a road flyover, roads, road underpasses, 16 canal crossings, one bridge crossing over the Sabarmati River and six steel bridges. Work on 23 of these crossings has already been completed.The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail project is being developed with technical and financial assistance from Japan using the Shinkansen system. The 508-km corridor will pass through Maharashtra, Gujarat and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.According to the ministry of railways, the route will have 12 stations — Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad and Sabarmati. The project is being implemented by the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL).The corridor has been designed for trains operating at speeds of up to 320 kmph. According to railway estimates, the fastest service on the route, stopping only at Surat and Vadodara, is expected to complete the journey in slightly over two hours. Currently, regular trains on the route take around seven hours, while the Vande Bharat Express takes approximately five-and-a-half hours.Railway officials have said the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor was chosen because it is among India’s busiest business travel routes. Mumbai remains the country’s financial capital, while Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara are major industrial and commercial centres. Passenger demand projections, economic feasibility studies, expected urban growth and travel density were among the key reasons behind selecting the route.The project was also envisioned as a technology-transfer initiative under the government’s “Make in India” programme. Japan agreed to fund around 81 per cent of the project through a soft loan carrying an interest rate of 0.1 per cent, repayable over 50 years with a long moratorium period.
