New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS): The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) on Friday opened the technical bids for the construction of Sabarmati Maintenance depot for 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed rail project, popularly known as the Bullet Train project, in which nine companies participated.

An NHSRCL spokesperson here said that it had invited bids for the preparatory works for the subsequent construction of the Sabarmati maintenance depot for MAHSR corridor on October 22 last year.

The official said that technical bids were opened on Friday and a total of nine bidders have participated in the process. The official said that the companies those who participated in the tender included URC Construction (P) Ltd, Khurana Engineering Ltd, Montecarlo Limited, KEC International Limited, Patel Infrastructure Limited, SCC-VRS (JV), Ranjit Buildcon Limited, ISGEC Heavy Engineering Ltd and Dineshchandra R. Agrawal Infracon Pvt. Ltd.

The official said that the next stage is to evaluate submitted technical bids before opening financial bids for the successful technical bidders.

According to NHSRCL officials, the Sabarmati maintenance depot will be the largest depot among three depots planned for MAHSR corridor. Other depots will be at Surat in Gujarat and Thane in Maharashtra.

The tender for the Sabarmati maintenance depot includes road works, sewage and drainage works, earth work, construction of reservoirs for storage of rooftop rain water and storm water, underground storage tanks, sheds for parking of the General Inspection train (GIT) and Inspection cars for track and other civil works at the site marked for the Sabarmati Depot.

The Sabarmati depot will cover an area of approximately 84 Ha and will be utilised for inspection, maintenance, cleaning and parking of MAHSR trainsets.

Trainset washing facilities shall also be located in the depot.