As part of the steady progress for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project, a 100 m long steel bridge was successfully launched over the DFC tracks near Bharuch, Gujarat. This is the eighth steel bridge completed for the project out of the planned 17 steel bridges in Gujarat and 28 for the entire corridor.
Weighing around 1,400 metric tons, the bridge stands 14.6 meters tall and spans 14.3 meters wide. It was fabricated at a workshop in Trichy and transported to the site using specially designed trailers. The bridge is launched using 84 meter-long launching nose, which weighs around 600 metric tons.
The fabrication utilized approx. 55,300 Nos. of Tor-Shear Type High Strength (TTHS) bolts with C5 system painting and elastomeric bearings being designed for a 100-year lifespan. The bridge was assembled at the site at a height of 18 m from the ground on temporary trestles and was pulled with automatic mechanism of 2 semi-automatic jacks, each of capacity of 250 ton using mac-alloy bars.
The launching was meticulously executed with carefully planned traffic blocks on the DFC tracks. These blocks were implemented in phases to ensure safety while minimizing disruption to freight movement.
Details of completed steel bridges in Gujarat
| Sr. No. | Location | Length of the steel bridge (in meters) | Weight of the steel bridge (in MT) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Across National Highway 53, Surat | 70 | 673 |
| 2 | Over Vadodara-Ahmedabad main line of Indian Railways, near Nadiad | 100 | 1486 |
| 3 | Over Delhi-Mumbai National Expressway, near Vadodara | 230 (130 + 100) | 4397 |
| 4 | Near Silvassa in Dadra & Nagar Haveli | 100 | 1464 |
| 5 | Over Western Railways, Vadodara | 60 | 645 |
| 6 | Over two DFCC Tracks and two Western Railways tracks, Surat | 100, 60 | 2040 |
| 7 | Over two DFCC tracks, near Vadodara | 70 | 674 |
| 8 | Over DFCC tracks near Bharuch | 100 | 1400 |
