‘Make in India’ steel bridge spanning 100 metres launched over DFC for Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train

In a key milestone for India’s first bullet train project, a 100-metre-long steel bridge has been successfully launched over the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) near Bharuch in Gujarat, according to a statement from the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) on Monday.

This is the eighth steel bridge completed in Gujarat for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor. In total, 17 such bridges are planned for the state and 28 across the entire 508-km corridor.

Weighing around 1,400 metric tonnes, the bridge stands 14.6 metres tall and 14.3 metres wide. It was fabricated in Trichy and transported to the site using specially designed trailers. The launch was executed using an 84-metre-long launching nose weighing about 600 metric tonnes.

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“The fabrication utilised approximately 55,300 Tor-Shear Type High Strength (TTHS) bolts with C5 system painting and elastomeric bearings designed for a 100-year lifespan,” NHSRCL said. The structure was assembled 18 metres above ground on temporary trestles and launched using two semi-automatic jacks, each with a 250-tonne capacity, and mac-alloy bars.

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To facilitate the launch, NHSRCL coordinated phased traffic blocks on the DFC tracks, ensuring safety while minimising disruption to freight operations.

The milestone comes as the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor records another major achievement: the completion of 300 km of viaduct superstructure. This includes the recent launch of a 40-metre-long full-span box girder near Surat.

“Out of 300 km of superstructure, 257.4 km is constructed through Full Span Launching Method (FSLM) including 14 river bridges, 37.8 km through Span by Span (SBS), 0.9 km steel bridges (10 spans ranging from 60 to 130 m in 7 bridges), 1.2 km PSC bridges (20 spans ranging from 40 to 80 m in 5 bridges) and 2.7 km in station building,” the statement said.

For the viaducts, 6,455 spans of 40 metres each were used in the FSLM section and 925 spans in the SBS section.

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project, India’s first bullet train line, is being built using Japanese Shinkansen technology and is expected to cut travel time between the two cities from over six hours to just about two.

With inputs from ANI

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