The National High-Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL) has granted a letter of acceptance to Dineshchandra-DMRC JV for designing and constructing a rolling stock depot in Thane, Maharashtra, as part of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project. The project includes three rolling stock depots at Sabarmati and Surat in Gujarat, and Thane in Maharashtra. These depots, inspired by the Shinkansen depots in Japan, aim to cover the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Corridor.
The Thane Depot, spanning approximately 55 hectares, will feature facilities for the maintenance and light upkeep of trainsets. Initially, it will have four inspection lines and 10 stabling lines, with plans to expand to 8 and 31, respectively, in the future. The depot will acquire about 200 pieces of depot machinery from Japan, adhering to Shinkansen standards, including bogie exchange machines, underfloor wheel re-profiling machines, testers, data readers, ultrasonic flaw detectors, and trainset washing plants.
In addition to the Thane Rolling Stock Depot, Gujarat is also witnessing the construction of two more depots in Sabarmati and Surat. The Sabarmati Rolling Stock Depot, awarded to the Sojiz-L&T consortium, began construction on January 5, 2023. It will be the largest depot, covering around 83 hectares, equipped with advanced facilities for both light and heavy maintenance of trainsets. This includes inspection bays, washing plants, workshops, sheds, and stabling lines, with plans to increase stabling lines from 10 to 29 in the future. Work is already underway, with excavation for the Administration Building completed, and design approvals for steel structures in progress.
Another depot is being constructed in Surat, covering about 40 hectares, which will receive the initial trainsets from Japan and provide basic facilities for their commissioning.
