130-m long ‘Make in India’ steel bridge launched over Delhi-Mumbai Expressway for bullet train project

National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) has successfully launched a steel bridge of 130 m length over the Delhi-Mumbai National Expressway near Vadodara in Gujarat for Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project. The bridge launching was completed within 24 hours with intermittent breaks to allow road traffic to pass.

This 3,000 MT of steel bridge of 18 m in height and 14.9 m in width has been fabricated at the workshop in Wardha, Maharashtra and was transported on trailers to the site for installation. It requires tremendous efforts to pull such a heavy girder which is likely to be the longest over any national highway in the country.

The bridge fabrication utilized approximately 124,246 Tor-Shear Type High Strength (TTHS) bolts with C5 system painting and metallic spherical bearings, all designed for a 100-year lifespan. The steel bridge was assembled at the site at a height of 15 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.

This is the third out of the 28 steel bridges completed for the corridor. The first and second steel bridges were launched across National Highway 53, in Surat and over Vadodara-Ahmedabad main line of Indian Railways, near Nadiad in Gujarat, respectively.

Steel bridges are most suitable to cross Highways, Expressways and Railways lines, unlike pre-stressed concrete bridges, spanning 40 to 45 meters, 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. Now, the same expertise in fabrication of steel girders is implemented on Bullet Train corridor too which will have a staggering operational speed of 320 kmph.