300km viaduct completed: Sneak peek into India's first bullet train project; watch video
NEW DELHI: The
Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail
(MAHSR) project has achieved a key milestone with the completion of 300 km of viaduct work, union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on Tuesday.
The update was shared in a video posted by the minister on social media platform X.
This development marks India's first bullet train project, which is being executed by the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL). In November 2023, the NHSRCL had reported the completion of 100 km of viaduct and 250 km of pier work along the corridor.
"Progress of Bullet Train project: Till date: 21.11.2023. Pillars: 251.40 km. Elevated super-structure: 103.24 km," Vaishnaw had said in a previous post on X, alongside a video showing ongoing construction.
According to NHSRCL, the viaduct work includes structures over six major rivers in Gujarat: Par, Purna, Mindhola, Ambika, Auranga, and Venganiya. These are located in the Valsad and Navsari districts. The viaducts are built using 40-metre-long full span box girders and segmental girders, and noise barriers are already being installed along constructed stretches.
Construction on other key components is also underway.
In Surat, the first reinforced concrete track bed, based on Japan's Shinkansen 'J-slab ballastless' track system, has been laid—marking the first such installation in India. Additionally, the project achieved the breakthrough of a 350-metre-long mountain tunnel in Valsad and erected the first of 28 planned steel bridges, a 70-metre structure, in Surat.
The bullet train corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then-Japanese PM Shinzo Abe on September 14, 2017. NHSRCL, incorporated in February 2016, functions as a Special Purpose Vehicle under the Ministry of Railways with equity participation from the central government, as well as the state governments of Gujarat and Maharashtra.
Once operational, the
high-speed rail corridor
is expected to transform travel between the two cities, significantly reducing travel time while introducing Japanese
Shinkansen technology
to India.
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