The National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL) awarded a contract worth Rs 1,390 crore to infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for the procurement and fabrication of 28 steel bridges for crossing over railway lines, highways, roads, rivers, and other structures for the Mumbai Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor, as part of the country's first bullet train project. NHSRCL, which is responsible for executing the bullet train project, awarded the contract to the consortium of L&T and Japan's IHI Infrastructure Systems. According to an NHSRCL statement, an estimated 70,000 MT of steel will be used to fabricate these steel bridges, which will boost the country's steel industries and their allied supply chains. For the fabrication of structures for these steel bridges, steel manufacturers will be supplying steel. Earlier, L&T had emerged as the lowest bidder for the steel bridge order. The financial bids for the procurement of steel bridges order were opened in December 2020.4th Indian Cement Review Conference 202117-18 March Click for event info A total of eight bidders had participated for the order, of which four were qualified after technical evaluation. The qualified bidders were Afcons Infrastructure Ltd, NCC Ltd, Tata Projects Ltd, and the Larsen & Toubro–IHI Infrastructure Systems Consortium. NHSRCL has already awarded civil contracts to construct 64% of the high-speed bullet train alignment which includes five bullet train corridor stations including Surat, Billimora, Vapi, Bharuch, Anand/Nadiad, a train depot at Surat, as well as one mountain tunnel of 350 m. The 508 km Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor will operate at a speed of 320 km per hour, passing through areas in Gujarat and Maharashtra, as well as Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The entire distance is expected to be covered in two-three hours and will cover 12 stations along the route. The project is being funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Also read: Lowest bidder for Kanpur and Agra metro track works Also read: L&T bags Mumbai – Ahmedabad Bullet Train ProjectImage source