Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday shared the current status of Mumbai - Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project in the lower house of the Parliament.

Key highlights from the project status report are:

All Statutory Clearances relating to wildlife, Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and Forest clearance have been obtained.
Out of total land requirement of approx. 1396 ha., about 1248 ha. Land has been acquired so far.
The entire project has been divided into 27 Contract packages including Training Institute at Vadodara. At present, 13 packages have been awarded, 3 are under evaluation and Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) has been invited for 2 packages.
Out of the total 352 Km length of project located in Gujarat and Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Civil works in 352 Km length have started in different phases from December, 2020 onwards.

Admitting that the Covid-19 pandemic had an adverse impact on the project, Vaishnav said that the project indeed got delayed. However, he cited some other factors as well for delay in project execution such as land acquisition, especially in the state of Maharashtra and the consequent delays in the finalisation of contracts.

"The cost of MAHSR Project is ₹1,08,000 crore as in 2015. The anticipated increase in cost and time can be fully ascertained only after completion of Land Acquisition, finalisation of all contracts and associated timelines," he added.

The 508.17-kilometre long network will pass through Mumbai, Thane, and Palghar in Maharashtra, and Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Kheda, and Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Here's The Update On Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet Train Project