The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) on Tuesday issued a letter of acceptance to Dineshchandra-DMRC JV for the design and construction of a rolling stock depot in Thane, near Mumbai, for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project.
The work includes civil works, inspection sheds, a maintenance depot and installation, testing and commissioning of maintenance facilities, the corporation said in a release.
'The depots are being designed based on the experience of Shinkansen depots in Japan,' it added.
The depot in Thane will be spread over 55 hectares and have facilities for the upkeep and light maintenance of trainsets. Initially, four inspection lines and 10 stabling lines will be constructed there, and in future, those will be increased to eight and 31, respectively.
There will be about 200 machines of 40 different types, including bogie exchange machines, underfloor wheel re-profiling machines, testers and data readers, ultrasonic flaw detectors and trainset washing plants, among others, and those will be used for the maintenance of the high-speed trainsets as per Shinkansen standards, the release said.
'The bullet train rolling stock depots aim to establish a standard for train maintenance in India, drawing inspiration from Japanese Shinkansen train depots. These facilities will incorporate state-of-the-art, environment friendly features,' Sushma Gaur, spokesperson of NHSRCL said.
Two more depots are under construction at Sabarmati and Surat in Gujarat for the bullet train corridor. The depot at Sabarmati will be the largest one, spread over 83 hectares. From January 1, 2023, Sojiz-L&T consortium has already started construction of the depot.
The depot at Surat is spread over 40 hectares, situated approximately 2 km from the planned under-construction Surat bullet train station.
This depot will receive the initial trainsets from Japan and will have the basic facilities for their commissioning.
These depots will be 'Green' depots with state-of-the-art maintenance equipment, the NHSRCL said.
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