Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project: 250 km pier, 100 km viaduct construction completed
The milestone of constructing 100 km of viaducts has been achieved through launching 40-metre long ‘full span box girders’ and ‘segmental girders’.
The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), overseeing the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor project, shared an update on Thursday saying that 100 km of viaducts and 230 km of pier work was completed for the corridor.
The milestone of constructing 100 km of viaducts has been achieved through launching 40-metre long ‘full span box girders’ and ‘segmental girders’, the NHSRCL has said.
Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw shared a video of the project on his X (formerly Twitter) platform to give information about the accomplishment. “Progress of Bullet Train project: Till date: 21.11.2023Pillars: 251.40 KmElevated super-structure: 103.24 Km,” Vaishnaw said in a post on X.
According to the corporation, the viaducts include bridges over six rivers flowing through Gujarat, namely Par and Auranga in Valsad, Purna, Mindhola, Ambika and Venganiya rivers in Navsari district.
“The first girder of the project was launched on November 25, 2021, while the first km of viaduct was ready in six months on June 30, 2022. It achieved construction of 50 km of viaduct on April 22, 2023 and, thereafter, in six months 100 km of viaduct were completed,” the NHSRCL said.
“The Full Span Launching technique (FSLM), where 40-metre long box girders are launched by state-of-the-art equipment, is being used along with span by span launching of segments. FSLM is 10 times faster than the span by span method, which is normally used to build metro viaducts,” it further added.
The installation of noise barriers has also started on the constructed viaduct, NHSRCL said in an official communication.
The laying of the first Reinforced Concrete (RC) track bed for the MAHSR corridor track system as used in Japanese Shinkansen has also started in Surat. This is for the first time, the J-slab ballastless track system is being used in India, NHSRCL said.
Further, the breakthrough of the first mountain tunnel of 350 m has been completed in Valsad while the first steel bridge of 70 metres length has been erected in Surat. This is the first of the 28 steel bridges which will be the part of MAHSR corridor, it added.
The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor project, being developed at the cost of ₹1.08 lakh crore, was launched by PM Narendra Modi and his then-Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in September 2017.
As per the shareholding pattern, the central government will pay ₹10,000 crore to the NHSRCL, while Gujarat and Maharashtra are to pay ₹5,000 crore each. The rest of the cost is by way of a loan at 0.1 per cent interest from Japan.
