National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) erected the first steel bridge of 70 metre length, across National Highway-53 at the city of Surat in Gujarat for Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor.
More Details:
This is the first of the 28 steel bridges which will be a part of the MAHSR corridor. Approximately 70,000 MT of specified steel is estimated to be used in the making of these steel bridges. The length of these steel bridge spans varies from 60 metre ‘Simply supported’ to 130 + 100 metre ‘continuous span’.
Along with Japanese know-how, India is increasingly utilising its indigenous technical and material capabilities to build the infrastructure under Make-in-India vision. Steel Bridge for HSR is one of such examples.
Steel bridges are most suitable to cross Highways, Expressways and Railways lines. Unlike prestressed concrete bridges, spanning 40 to 45 metres, which are suitable for most sections, including river bridges.
India has the expertise of fabricating Steel bridges for heavy haul and semi high-speed trains which run between 100 and 160 kmph. And, this is for the first time, a Steel bridge to support a Shinkansen Bullet train running at a speed of 320 km per hour was fabricated and successfully launched with precision.
Once ready at the workshop at Hapur district near national capital Delhi, which is almost 1200 km away from the location of bridge site, the steel structure, which consists of nearly 700 pieces and 673 Metric tonnes, were transported on trailers to the site of installation.
- At the site, the Steel Bridge of 12 to 14 metre in height was assembled on the staging above 10- to 12-metre-high piers. Thereafter the launching nose of approx. 200 metric tons weight was assembled with the main bridge assembly. With massive care and expertise, the Bridge Assembly was pulled to its intended span through a specially designed pulling arrangement under the complete traffic block on National Highway.
- Each production batch of steel was tested by Ultrasonic Testing (UT) at the manufacturer’s premises. The making of steel bridges undergoes high-tech and precise operations of cutting, drilling, welding and painting as per the design drawings prepared by Japanese engineers.
Contractor is mandated to employ welders and supervisors certified by International Welding Experts. The welding process is also monitored by Japanese International Welding Experts (IWE) stationed at each workshop. Fabricated structure undergoes a Check Assembly process. And then follows the sophisticated 5- layered painting of the steel structure.
The painting technique adopted for the steel girders is first-of-its-kind in India. It conforms to the C-5 Painting system of Japan Road Association’s “Handbook for Corrosion Protection of Steel Road Bridges”.
Technical points:
- Length of the main bridge: 70 metres
- Weight of the main bridge: 673 MT
- Launching nose length: 38 metres
- Launching nose weight: 167 MT
- Steel used: 673 MT (Main Bridge)
Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail:
Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project is 508 Km long first High- Speed Rail (HSR) network planned to be constructed in India. Out of 508Km, 352 Km lies in the State of Gujarat (348 Km) and Dadra & Nagar Haveli (4Km) and the balance 156 Km lies in the State of Maharashtra.
The Construction Work is in progress in both Gujarat and Dadra & Nagar Haveli where 98% and 100% land has been acquired respectively. In Gujarat, High Speed Rail alignment passes through eight districts i.e. Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Kheda and Ahmedabad and work is in progress in all the eight districts.
In Maharashtra land acquisition done so far is 40%. The project will entail an investment of 72,000 Crs in the state of Gujarat in both Land & construction. So far an expenditure of 14,200 Crs has been done. The project will generate direct & indirect employment of 60,000 in Gujarat state.
Source: NHSRCL- Press Release | Images Credit: NHSRCL
