L&T has bagged another construction package of the bullet train project for an estimated value of ₹7,000 crore.

According to industry sources, L&T has emerged as the lowest bidder for the C6 package for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project, popularly referred to as the Bullet Train project, from the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited. Recently, the engineering procurement construction (EPC)-major emerged as the lowest bidder at ₹24,985 crore for constructing the 237.1 km under Package C4 of the 508.17-km rail corridor.

The latest C6 package that L&T has bagged includes the design and construction of civil and building works — even testing and commissioning on a design-build lump-sum price basis for the double-line high-speed railway involving 87.5 km of viaducts and bridges, 25 crossing bridges, a tunnel, 97.50 km of roads, one station, a maintenance depot, four sub-maintenance depots, and a host of other associated structures. Other bidders for this package which included a consortium of AFCONS Infrastructure Limited-IRCON International Limited-JMC Projects India; and a consortium of NCC Limited-Tata Project Ltd-J Kumar Infra Projects Ltd-HSR, according to multiple sources in the know. When contacted, L&T officials declined to comment.

This development comes in the backdrop of tough macroeconomic conditions for the construction sector as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. In its recent second-quarter earnings, S N Subrahmanyan, CEO and MD, L&T said that revenues from the project will start reflecting from next year onwards. The revenue from infrastructure segment, which has an order book of ₹2.2 lakh crore, fell 20.2 per cent to ₹13,095.7 crore on a yearly basis. Core engineering and constuction order inflows declined 54 per cent on a yearly basis to ₹17,300 crore.

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