Mumbai – Ahmedabad Bullet Train’s CLC Bridge over NH-48 Starts Taking Shape

South-east of Surat, a new 250 meter long balanced cantilever (CLC) bridge is slowly taking shape for the 508.17 km Mumbai – Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR Bullet Train) project.

This 4-span bridge under construction over national highway NH-48 at Amadpore, Navsari District will have a configuration of 45m + 80m + 80m + 45m. Its segments with variable heights are being launched one at a time on either side to allow vehicular traffic on the roadway to pass by uninterrupted.

Its construction site (view on Google Maps) is located just 13 kms south of where MG Contractors (MGCPL) earlier this month 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.

Here’s a snap of the CLC bridge’s 3 massive hammer-head pier caps:

This bridge (GAD 10 at chainage Km 235.379) was earlier part of Package P2 which was discharged by India’s National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL) in 2020.

It remains unconfirmed, but I imagine it’s construction was included in 237.1 km Package C4’s scope (Vadodara – Zaroli) which was awarded to Larsen & Toubro in November 2020 with a contract value of Rs. 24,985 crore.

Similar cantilever bridges built for metro systems exist over railways lines and roads in Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Kochi, Nagpur and Ahmedabad.

The entire MAHSR project will apparently consist of 6 CLC bridges. The location of the other 5 remain unknown to me. If someone is aware, then please leave a comment below for my and everyone else’s awareness.

In other exciting news, NHSRCL recently announced the completion of land acquisition for 951.14 hectares in Gujarat. Maharashtra’s progress now stands at an impressive 99.83% (429.71 hectares).

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– TMRG