New Delhi: The National High Speed Rail Corp Ltd (NHSRCL) is hopeful of acquiring a major chunk of land required for the 508-km-long Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project by the end of this year.
NHSRCL spokesperson Sushma Gaur told IANS that the land will be taken over once the tenders for the project were finalised. "Major chunk of the land acquisition is likely to be completed by December 2019," she said.
The bullet trains are expected to run at 320 km per hour covering the 508 km stretch in about two hours. In comparison, trains now plying on the route take over seven hours to travel the distance while planes take about an hour of flying time.
The NHSRCL has acquired 39 per cent of the 1,380 hectares of land till date. This comes to 537 hectares: 471 of 940 hectares in Gujarat and 66 of 431 hectares in Maharashtra.
The agency has failed to take over any of nine hectares required in Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
Gaur said the Bullet Train project was progressing at a good pace. "Two or three months back the total land acquired was 33 per cent. And within 90 days we were able to acquire over 6 per cent more land," she said.
