CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India EPress / ITDC News Bhopal: The completion of three mountain tunnels in just five months in Palghar district has given fresh momentum to the country’s first bullet train project.
In a major engineering achievement for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project, construction of the third mountain tunnel, MT-07, has been successfully completed at Ambesari village in Dahanu taluka of Maharashtra’s Palghar district.
With three mountain tunnels completed in Maharashtra within the past five months, the project has made rapid progress in one of the most technically challenging sections of India’s first high-speed rail corridor.
The newly completed MT-07 mountain tunnel, built for both tracks of the bullet train corridor, is 417 metres long and 14.4 metres wide. Excavation of the tunnel was carried out from both ends using the controlled drilling and blasting method. Advanced engineering practices and safety protocols were followed throughout construction.
During the entire excavation process, state-of-the-art monitoring systems and geotechnical instruments were used to ensure structural stability, worker safety and precise execution. Real-time monitoring arrangements, including Surface Settlement Points (SSP), 3D targets, strain gauges and seismographs, continuously tracked vibrations, tunnel movement and the impact on nearby structures. During tunnel construction, there was no relaxation in comprehensive worker safety measures, including ventilation systems, fire safety arrangements, controlled access and continuous geotechnical supervision.
Earlier tunnel construction milestones in Maharashtra
This success builds on earlier achievements in the Maharashtra section of the project. The first 1.5-km mountain tunnel, MT-05, was completed near Safale in Palghar district on 2 January 2026. That marked the first successful mountain tunnel construction for the bullet train project in Maharashtra. It was followed by the second tunnel, MT-06, on 3 February 2026, in which a 454-metre tunnel was excavated using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM). In this way, two successful tunnel constructions were completed in Palghar district within about a month.
Of the seven mountain tunnels under construction in Maharashtra, excavation work has now been completed in MT-05, MT-06 and MT-07. Excavation in MT-08 (350 metres) had been completed on 5 October 2023. Excavation of MT-03 is more than 80 percent complete, MT-04 has reached nearly 60 percent, while work on MT-01 and MT-02 is continuing steadily. Of the total eight mountain tunnels in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project, seven fall in Maharashtra’s Palghar district and one is in Gujarat’s Valsad district, where tunnel work has already been completed.
Excavation of all three mountain tunnels between the Vapi and Boisar bullet train stations has been successfully completed. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train corridor passes through a key industrial belt between Boisar in Maharashtra and Vapi in Gujarat, where construction activities are progressing rapidly. The route between the two cities includes three mountain tunnels: MT-08, MT-07 and MT-06.
The Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project is encouraging the adoption of advanced tunnel monitoring and construction technologies. As the foundation is laid for safe, modern and future-ready rail transport, the country’s high-speed rail infrastructure capabilities are being strengthened.
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