National High Spreed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL) has floated invited bids from eligible global surveying firms for preparing the preliminary route development, final alignment design including Aerial LiDAR survey and other related works for six high speed rail corridors totalling 409 kms. The selected

LiDAR surveys are used for rapid and accurate collection of topographic data as it penetrates through vegetation to identify the accurate level and contour of land. (LiDAR is a remote-sensing technology that measures distance by illuminating a target with a laser and analyzing the reflected light. The GPS unit interacts with GPS satellites to finalize ground control points.)

Last month, Indian Railways has sanctioned DPRs for the six high-speed railway corridors. DPRs will be ready in 1-2 years and they will define the feasibility of a bullet train corridor on the route and the traffic potential as well.

The six corridors / lines identified by the government

Delhi – Agra – Kanpur – Lucknow – Varanasi (approx 865 km)

Mumbai – Nashik – Nagpur (753 km)

Mumbai – Pune – Hyderabad (711 km)

Delhi – Jaipur – Udaipur – Ahmedabad (886 km)

Chennai – Bengaluru – Mysore (435 km)

Delhi – Chandigarh – Ludhiana – Jalandhar – Amritsar (459 km)

With speeds of over 300 kmph, the bullet train corridors will help cut down travel time drastically, and according to Indian Railways the routes have been chosen keeping in mind the high demand for train tickets on the route.

According to the bid invite dociment, the two selected contractor are expected to provide the following services as part of the design and survey

A. Route Development to identify possible options for the six high-speed railway corridors and evaluate these in terms of technical, financial and economic, environmental, social and strategic terms.” Route Definition and Identification of Options Route options are defined as approximate alignments within the chosen corridor that are compared in order to select the preferred route.

B. Existing topographic and other specialized mappin to determine rough, mountanious, flat surfaces including Ghat Sections where alignment may be proposed considering tunneling / viaducts from constructability point of view.

C. City Connectivity including main cities that will be connected to each other and the other cities on the route shall be evaluated together while selecting the preferred route.

D. Traffic Data

NHSRCL is currently engaged in implementing the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project which is India’s maiden high-speed line. The current Mumbai-Ahmedabad project is expected to be completed by 2022. The project though is facing land acquisition challenges and a hostile political climate in Maharashta which recently sworn in Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress.

NHSRCL is working towards completeing 90% of land acquisition work for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor in another 6 months time.