Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train: Eight Out Of 17 Steel Bridges Now Complete In Gujarat, Latest Launched Over DFC Tracks Near Bharuch

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project has achieved a significant milestone in Gujarat with the completion of its eighth steel bridge, marking nearly 50 per cent progress on the 17 planned steel structures in the state.

The latest bridge, a 100-metre-long span, was successfully launched over Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) tracks near Bharuch.

A total of 28 such bridges have been planned on the entire Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor, with 17 in Gujarat.

The newly launched bridge weighs around 1,400 metric tons, stands 14.6 metres tall, and spans 14.3 metres wide.

It was fabricated at a workshop in Trichy and transported to the site using specially designed trailers.

An 84-metre-long launching nose weighing about 600 metric tons was used to push the bridge into place.

The structure was assembled using 55,300 high-strength Tor-Shear bolts, with elastomeric bearings and C5-grade painting designed to support a 100-year lifespan.

The bridge was assembled at the site at a height of 18 m from the ground on temporary trestles and was pulled with automatic mechanism of two semi-automatic jacks, each of capacity of 250 ton using mac-alloy bars, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limeted (NHSRCL) said in a statement. 

To minimise disruption to freight movement, the launch was executed through carefully phased traffic blocks on the DFC tracks.

With this, the high-speed corridor in Gujarat section now has eight completed steel bridges at key locations including Surat, Vadodara, Nadiad, Silvassa and Bharuch.

Among the major spans already completed is a 230-metre-long structure across the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway near Vadodara—the heaviest so far at 4,397 metric tons.

Also Read: Modi, Carney Meeting On G7 Sidelines Ends Diplomatic Impasse: India, Canada To Reinstate Envoys, Resume Trade Talks