MGCPL Completes Mumbai – Ahmedabad Bullet Train’s 2nd Bridge over NH-48

MG Contractors Pvt. Ltd. (MGCPL) this week completed building a 210 meter long balanced cantilever (CLC) bridge south-east of Surat for the 508.17 km Mumbai – Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR Bullet Train) project.

This 4-span PSC bridge (GAD-10) over national highway NH-48 is located at chainage Km 235.379 in Sasodra village of Navsari District, and has a configuration of 40m + 65m + 65m + 40m. Its 72 segments with variable heights were cast offsite and launched one-by-one to allow vehicular traffic on the roadway to pass by uninterrupted.

The bridge’s construction site (view on Google Maps) is located between Surat and Bilimora Bullet Train stations, 19 km south of where MGCPL in October 2023 launched the project’s first open web girder (OWG) bridge across national highway NH-53. Vehicular traffic there was stopped for 2 days to safely push the bridge into position.

Few snaps shot this summer:

India’s National High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd. (NHSRCL) had awarded Package P1(B)’s Rs. 549 crore contract to MGCPL in 2021. Their scope includes building 4 PSC bridges and 7 steel truss bridges within Larsen & Toubro’s 237.1 km Package C4 (Vadodara – Zaroli village on MH/GJ border).

NHSRCL posted a grainy video of the final segment being hoisted up on X. A few screenshots:

This is the second box-segmental cantilever bridge constructed over NH-48. The first one for 260m GAD-11, completed in August 2024, is located 6.2 km kilometers away at Amadpore village. 

The entire MAHSR project will consist of 5 such PSC cantilever bridges. The other 3 are GAD-9 (likely over NH-56 in Valsad District) & GAD-1441 (location unknown to me) on Package P1(B), and GAD-33 (Kheda District) on Package P1(C).

With this development, 2 PSC bridges and 2 open web girder (OWG) bridges each have been completed on Package P1(B) which includes 11 bridges. Here’s a list in chronological order:

• GAD-1134 (70m, 673 MT) – OWG over National Highway NH-53 near Surat in October 2023
• GAD-11 (260m) – PSC bridge over National Highway NH-48 at Amadpore in August 2024
• GAD-68 (100m, 1464 MT) – OWG over Bhilosa Switching Substation near Silvassa in August 2024
• GAD-10 (210m) – PSC bridge over National Highway NH-48 at Sasodra (this post!)

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– TMRG