Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project: 250 km pier and 100 km viaduct’s construction completed

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor project is being managed by the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), which provided an update on Thursday stating that 230 km of pier construction and 100 km of viaducts have been finished.

According to the NHSRCL, the construction of 100 km of viaducts has reached a significant milestone with the installation of 40-meter-long “full span box girders” and “segmental girders.”
To provide information on the achievement, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw posted a video of the project on his X (formerly Twitter) account. “Bullet Train project status as of 21.11.2023251.40 kilometers of pillars”103.24 km is the elevated super-structure,” Vaishnaw wrote in a post on X.

The company claims that the viaducts span six rivers that flow through Gujarat: the Purna, Mindhola, Ambika, Venganiya, and Par rivers in the Navsari district, and the Auranga and Par rivers in Valsad.

“The project’s first girder was installed on November 25, 2021, and the first kilometer of the viaduct was completed in six months on June 30, 2022. On April 22, 2023, it succeeded in building 50 km of viaduct; six months later, 100 km of the viaduct were finished, according to the NHSRCL.

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“In addition to span-by-span launching of segments, the Full Span Launching technique (FSLM) is being applied, in which 40-meter long box girders are launched by means of cutting-edge machinery. Compared to the span-by-span approach, which is typically utilised to build metro viaducts,” it further added.

On the built viaduct, noise barrier installation has already begun, according to a statement from NHSRCL.
In Surat, work has also begun on the first reinforced concrete (RC) track bed for the MAHSR corridor rail system, which is similar to the Japanese Shinkansen. According to NHSRCL, India is using the J-slab ballastless track technology for the first time.

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Additionally, the first steel bridge, about 70 meters in length, was built in Surat, and the 350-meter mountain tunnel in Valsad has been finished. It further stated that this is the first of the 28 steel bridges that will form a part of the MAHSR route.

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.