Construction of 12 river bridges completed for bullet train corridor in Gujarat

Ahmedabad: The construction of 12 out of the total 20 river bridges in Gujarat for the 508-km long Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor has been completed, officials said on Sunday.

The 120-metre-long bridge on the Kharera river in Navsari district is the 12th such structure to be recently completed in Gujarat, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) said.

The bullet train project covers Gujarat (352 km) and Maharashtra (156 km), with a total of 12 stations planned at Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Boisar, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand/Nadiad, Ahmedabad and Sabarmati.

The train is expected to sharply reduce the travel time between Ahmedabad and Mumbai to around 3 hours from the current 6 to 8 hours.

"The bridge on the Kharera river, Navsari district, has been completed on October 29, 2024 for the bullet train project which marks the completion of all nine river bridges between Vapi and Surat bullet train stations (in south Gujarat) of Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor," the NHSRCL said in a statement.

Kharera is one of the tributaries of the Ambika river, which originates from the hills in Vansda taluka in the border area of Gujarat and Maharashtra.

The river is located around 45 km from the Vapi bullet train station and 6 km from the Bilimora station, it said.

Apart from Kharera, bridges have also been constructed on the Par, Purna, Mindhola, Ambika, Auranga, Kolak, Kaveri and Venganiya rivers between Vapi and Surat.

The other bridges which have been completed are on the rivers of Dhadhar (Vadodara district), Mohar and Vatrak (both in Kheda district), it said.

As on October 21, 2024, the entire 1,389.5 hectare land to be used for the project has been acquired, and all civil and depot tenders for the project, and track tender for the Gujarat portion have been awarded, the statement said.

Work is under progress on all 12 stations. The work of a 21-km tunnel with 7 km length passing through undersea has also started, the NHSRCL said.

"The undersea tunnel is at about 36 m below the ground with a diameter of 12.1 m to accommodate both UP and DN (down) tracks of the bullet train in one tunnel. Such a big diameter undersea tunnel is being constructed for the first time in India," it said.

The NHSRCL also said that 16 km out of total 21 km of the tunnel is planned to be constructed using the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), and the remaining 5 km by the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM).

The slurry type TBMs with cutter head diameter of 13.6 m are being procured keeping in mind the ground conditions and reliability.

"Works on three shafts for lowering and retrieval of TBMs are nearing completion. Further, the 394 m long Additional Driven Intermediate Tunnel (ADIT) is already completed and tunnel boring through NATM taken up at three faces simultaneously to pace up the work," it said.