India’s Maharashtra state government has approved the Pune-Nashik semi-high-speed rail corridor.
This corridor will shorten the travelling time between Pune and Nashik from the present six hours to one hour and 45 minutes.
The length proposed for the Pune-Nashik corridor is around 235km.
The project is expected to aid the creation of the Mumbai-Pune-Nashik ‘golden triangle’ as an economic centre, as well as improve passenger and freight movement in the region.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister was quoted by The Times of India as saying: “24 stations are proposed on this route. The speed of the train will be 200km/h. The expected cost of the project is Rs16,030 crore (or nearly $2.2bn).”
The project will be executed by Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation (MRIDC), which is an equal joint venture between the state and the Indian Railways.
Last June, Indian Railways granted its in-principal approval for the project, which was developed by the state government in 2017.
The state has started the procedure of acquiring 1,470ha of land to start the project.
The cost of the project will be covered by the state and the railways, with each contributing 20% of equity.
The outstanding 60% will be raised from internal financial institutions.
National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) recently opened two technical tenders for the construction of bridges for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor.
The bridges will be constructed in Gujarat and union territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
As many as nine companies participated in the technical bids.
