Gandhinagar, 8 November 2023
The work of building a tunnel through 7 mountains in the high speed corridor between Ahmedabad and Mumbai has started. A tunnel has been built in Gujarat. A tunnel has been constructed using the Austrian tunneling method at Jharoli near Umargam in Valsad. The 350 meter long tunnel has a diameter of 12.6 metres. The height is 10.25 meters. 2 tracks of 2 high speed bullet trains are being laid in the same tube tunnel. There will be a total of 7 mountain tunnels in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train route. Bandra-Kurla Complex has 21 km long tunnels. A 7 kilometer long tunnel will be built inside Thane Bay. This tunnel of Thane will be the country’s first undersea tunnel.
Ahmedabad National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) has completed the total 508 km Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor (MAHSR) corridor under the Bullet Train Project. It also signed all 11 civil packages of the 465 km long MAHSR corridor. Lamba Viaduct, 12 HSR stations, 3 rolling stock depots, 10 km. 28 steel bridges with viaducts, 24 river bridges, 7 km. Lambi has 9 tunnels, including India’s first sea tunnel.
135 km (Between Shilphata and Zaroli village on Maharashtra-Gujarat border) 7 tunnels in MAHSR alignment and 2 km on Vaitarna River in Maharashtra State. Also, out of three civil construction contracts in the state of Maharashtra, Mumbai (BKC) HSR Station (C1), 21 km. 7 km. Undersea Tunnel (C2) including tunnels and 135 km. The outline of the alignment is given (C3). With this, 100 percent civil contracts on the corridor have been completed. The length of bridges and viaducts in the MAHSR-C3 package is 124 km, the length of bridges and crossings is 36 (including 12 steel bridges). There are 6 hill tunnels at Thane, Virar and Boisar (all high) stations. Bridges will be built on Ulhas River, Vaitarna and Jagni River.
Total 28 contract packages
The MAHSR corridor has been divided into 28 contract packages, of which 11 are civil packages, which were contracted over a period of 33 months. 237 km including 4 HSR stations (Vapi, Belimora, Surat and Bharuch) and Surat Rolling Stock Depot in the state of Gujarat. The first civil contract for the construction of the viaduct was awarded on 28 October 2020, which is also the largest civil contract in India. 135 km with 3 HSR stations (Thane, Virar and Boisar) in the state of Maharashtra. The final civil contract for the viaduct was awarded on 19 July 2023.
To expedite the construction of the viaduct, for the first time in India, 40 meter long full span girders weighing 970 tonnes were launched by a unique full span launching equipment set i.e. Straddle Carrier, Bridge Gantry, Girder Transporter. and girder launcher. Which has been designed and manufactured in India. This technology is approximately 10 times faster than the traditional segment launching technology and has given a new dimension to the construction industry.
Valsad
The construction of bridge on Aurangabad river in Valsad district has been completed. This is the fifth river bridge so far on the MAHSR corridor. The length of Aurangabad River Bridge is 320 meters. The bridge is constructed with 8 full span box girders (40 meters each). The height of the pillars ranges from 20 meters to 26 metres. In which 7 circular pillars of 5 meter diameter and 2 circular pillars of 5.5 meter diameter have been made. This bridge is between Vapi and Belimora HSR stations.
Earlier, construction of bridges on Par, Purna, Mindhola and Ambika rivers has been completed. There are a total of 24 river bridges on the MAHSR corridor in Gujarat and Maharashtra, out of which 20 bridges are in Gujarat and 4 bridges are in Maharashtra. India’s longest river bridge is being built over the 1.2 km long Narmada river in Gujarat. Similarly in Maharashtra 2.28 km. The longest bridge will be built on the Vaitarna River.