Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 3 (ANI): Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday inspected the construction progress of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train station located at the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai. He stated that work on the site is moving ahead at a rapid pace following the handover of land by the Maharashtra government.

'The work on Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex station is progressing very rapidly. If you look at the work, the construction of B3, which is our lowest basement level, is moving ahead quickly,' Vaishnaw said during the inspection.

He further noted that structural reinforcement has already been completed. 'The work to strengthen the site's walls has been completed. Now, the construction of the station walls has begun,' he added.

Providing details of the station design, Vaishnaw said, 'This station will be a multi-storey building, and it will have three basement levels - B3, B2, and B1. Vehicles will be parked in B3, operational work will take place in B2, and passengers will enter the station from B1 and the ground level.'

He also highlighted progress on the tunnel works associated with the high-speed rail project. 'Alongside this, the tunneling work is also advancing at a fast pace, and as soon as the land from the Maharashtra government was received, the speed of the work increased significantly,' he said.

Meanwhile, approximately 76 per cent of the excavation work has been completed on the Mumbai bullet train station located at BKC, which is the only underground station on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor.

According to a release, 14.2 lakh cubic metres of the excavation work has been completed. 18.7 lakh cubic metres of earthwork must be excavated from this site.

Three batching plants of 120 cum/hr capacity are functional at site. Batching plants are provided with an ice plant and a chiller plant that help control concrete temperature.

The site is provided with a modern concrete lab, with facilities like a Water Permeability Test, a Rapid Chloride Penetration Test, etc. All concrete tests are conducted at the site, and samples are intermittently sent to a reputed lab.

Base Slab is being cast with M-60 grade of temperature-controlled concrete. Each base slab casting required 3,000 to 4,000 cubic metres of concrete at controlled temperatures, which is being produced by in-situ batching plants and chiller plants.

The platform is planned at a depth of about 26 metres below ground level. There will be three floors including platform, concourse and service floor. Excavation for the said work is being done till a depth of 32 metres (approx. 100 ft) from the ground level, which is equivalent to a 10-storied building.

The station will have six platforms, each approximately 415 m long (sufficient to accommodate a 16-coach bullet train). It will be connected to the metro and the road.

Two entry/exit points are planned, one to facilitate access to the nearby Metro station of Metro Line 2B, and the other towards the MTNL building.

The station has been planned in a way that ample space is available for passenger movement and amenities at the concourse and platform level.

A dedicated skylight provision has been made for natural lighting. (ANI)