Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train Project Achieves Major Milestone With Launch Of First Full Span Girder In Maharashtra

The National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) has achieved a significant milestone in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project with the successful launch of the first 40-meter-long Full Span Pre-Stressed Concrete (PSC) Box Girder in Maharashtra.

NHSRCL is the implementing agency for the 508-Km Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project.

The launch was carried out on 6 September, at Sakhare Village in Dahanu using a Full Span Launching Gantry (FSLG), marking the beginning of viaduct construction in the state.

The Maharashtra stretch of the Bullet Train corridor covers 156 km, of which 135 km will be elevated from Shilphata to Zaroli on the Gujarat border.

This elevated section, known as the viaduct, is designed to be built using 2,575 full-span girders, each weighing about 970 metric tonnes.

Alongside, the alignment will include 17 km of segmental girders, 2.3 km of steel bridges, three elevated stations, seven mountain tunnels spanning around 6 km, and special earth structures.

To support this, 13 casting yards have been planned, with five already operational between Shilphata and the Maharashtra-Gujarat border.

The Full Span PSC Box Girder technology, first adopted in April 2021, has already facilitated the construction of a 319 km viaduct in Gujarat.

Each girder, weighing 970 metric tonnes, is cast as a single unit using 390 cubic meters of concrete and 42 metric tonnes of steel.

Considered the heaviest in India’s construction industry, these girders speed up construction nearly tenfold compared to segmental girders.

Their placement relies on heavy indigenous machinery such as straddle carriers, bridge launching gantries, and girder transporters, with girders cast and stored in advance at dedicated yards to ensure smooth supply.

In Maharashtra, construction is progressing rapidly across multiple fronts.

Approximately 48 km of piers have been completed, while viaduct construction through full-span girder launching has begun in Palghar district.

Excavation is underway for seven mountain tunnels, with 2.1 km of the total 6 km already achieved, and construction has also started on the Vaitarna, Ulhas, and Jagani river bridges.

A major highlight of the project is India’s first 21 km-long underground and undersea tunnel connecting Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) with Shilphata.

Of this, 16 km is being excavated using tunnel boring machines, while 5 km is being constructed using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM).

The undersea portion of the tunnel at Thane Creek stretches for 7 km.

A cumulative 4.65 km of tunnel heading has been completed, with base slab casting done at both the Vikhroli shaft (56 meters deep) and the Sawli shaft (39 meters deep).

Sludge treatment plants are also being installed at shaft locations, while tunnel lining segments are being produced at Mahape casting yard.

At the under-construction Mumbai Bullet Train station in BKC, 83 percent of excavation work has been completed.

Base slab casting at a depth of 100 feet has already commenced at both ends of the station site.

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Also Read: Mumbai–Ahmedabad Bullet Train: L&T Bags NHSRCL Contract For 157 Km Track Works In Maharashtra, Including Four Stations And Thane Depot