Legwork On India’s First Undersea Tunnel Begins

Work on PM Modi’s ambitious Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor has taken off in Mumbai. As part of the bullet train project, work on India’s first undersea tunnel has started. The bullet train is expected to cover a distance of 508km. It has a 21-km underground corridor from BKC to Kalyan Shilphata of which seven km is under the Thane creek, with 1.8km of it to be built under the sea bed, and the remaining under the mangroves marshland on either side of the creek. A team of engineers from National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), RITES Ltd, and Japan’s Kawasaki Geological Engineering are currently in Mumbai to initiate phase one of the work of India’s first undersea tunnel. They are conducting geotechnical surveys which are expected to be completed by December 24. According to  Achal Khare, managing director of NHSRCL, construction work of this tunnel will begin by the second half of 2018 and is slated to be completed by December 2021.  He added that as of now, 80% of the survey work has been completed. The team is using static refraction method to study the seabed structure. They have completed surveying the mangroves using Light Distance and Ranging (LIDAR) -- an aerial survey of the forest using a 100-megapixel camera which has cut short the survey time by more than seven months.