The National High Speed Rail Corporation, the body overseeing India’s first high-speed rail project, has issued a tender for the country’s first underwater rail tunnel. The corporation expects to receive bid offers in the region of $1bn. Â
The rail corridor, which will run 530km from Mumbai north to Ahmedabad, is calling for international bids for a twin-bore tunnel between the Bandra-Kurla Complex in the west of the city and the eastern suburb of Shilphata. The tunnel will run for 22km, with 7km under the Thane creek, 1.8 km under the sea and the remainder under the mangroves swamps on either side of the creek.
Bandra-Kurla is a new business district, which is being built to draw investment away from the congested areas of south Mumbai.
The tender specifies that the work should be carried out with a tunnel boring machine using the new Austrian tunnelling method. The tender requires the project to be completed in three-and-a-half years.
The contract is to be let on a single-stage, lump sum, design-and-build basis, and the deadline for entries is 23 August.
Image courtesy of the National High Speed Rail Corporation
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