Three maintenance depots planned on India's first Bullet Train (HSR) corridor

New Delhi (Urban Transport News): The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) has informed on Friday that there are three bullet train maintenance depots have been planned along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail corridor alignment at Sabarmati, Surat and Thane. Out of those, two depots will be constructed in Gujarat and one in Maharashtra. Sabarmati and Thane depots will be designed at par with Sendai and Kanazawa Shinkansen depots in Japan.

"For the Bullet Train India project, NHSRCL has planned three maintenance depots along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor alignment at Sabarmati, Surat, and Thane. Sabarmati and Thane depots will be designed similar to Sendai and Kanazawa depots in Japan", said in the statement. Thane depot can adjoin a district of concerning sixty hectares and can have similar facilities for the maintenance of the trains, Sushma Gaur, NHSRCL spokesperson said.

Another useful depot is being planned in Surat with a district of forty four hectares. This depot can receive trains from Japan and have basic facilities for train maintenance. The depots ar being designed supported the expertise of Sendai and Kanazawa depots of Shinkansen in Japan.

Earlier, the NHSRCL has revealed that Indian Railways is ready to make reservoirs in its all three depots to store freshwater which might be utilized in the upkeep of the bullet trains. The move comes at a time once components of the country are reeling underneath severe water crisis. The construction work on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (bullet train) corridor is likely to begin by March next year. In fact, civil work for Ahmedabad Bullet Train Station has already commenced at the existing Ahmedabad railway station of the Indian Railway. The Ahmedabad Bullet Train station will be built over the existing railway lines on the eastern side above platform no. 10, 11 and 12.

Civil tenders for the construction of stations and depots for Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail corridor already floated by the NHSRCL. There is a total of 12 stations are proposed along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail corridor. The proposed station names include Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand and Ahmedabad, Sabarmati. Most of the high speed corridor will be elevated, except for a 21 km underground tunnel between Thane and Virar. Out of, 7 km of this tunnel will be built in undersea.