AHMEDABAD (Metro Rail News): The 480-metre Sabarmati River bridge for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train corridor has been completed in Ahmedabad. The structure stands about 36 metres high and crosses the river between the Sabarmati and Ahmedabad bullet train stations.

The bridge is among the key structures on the Ahmedabad section, where the high-speed rail alignment crosses existing railway lines, roads, flyovers and Metro infrastructure.

Rise of the Bullet Train Bridge at Ahmedabad

The height of bullet train bridge is noted to be around 36 metres which is equivalent to a 12-storey building. The tall bridge of 118 feet is one of the major structures of the Bullet Train corridor in Ahmedabad. The architecture of the flyover is located next to the Western Railway’s Ahmedabad-Delhi main line which sits about 14.8 metres above ground level.

The height of the bullet train bridge was influenced by the need to maintain the required clearance over existing infrastructure along the alignment. The bridge lies:

• About 1 km from Sabarmati Bullet Train Station
• About 4 km from Ahmedabad Bullet Train Station

Architectural features of the Sabarmati Bullet Train Bridge

The foundation of the flyover is laid with  08 strong circular piers of diameters ranging from 6 to 6.5 metres. Of which, 04 piers are submerged under the Sabarmati River, 02 are constructed at the banks of the river. With 01 piers each located on either side of the river, 02 of them are built away from the riverbanks. 

Shorter spans of about 40 metres have been covered on the majority of river bridges of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train corridor. But, Sabarmati River bridge has longer spans that fall between 50 to 76 metres, hence limiting the number of piers necessary for construction under the riverbed.

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It incorporates a total of seven spans, with 5 spans of 76 metres long and 2 spans of about 50 metres length. Every span has 23 segments, which were cast in-situ at the construction site. Each of these segments were carefully laid down, which involved acute planning, directed construction and daily reviews, to give the bridge a solid structure.

Built using Balanced Cantilever Method

The bridge deck was constructed using the Balanced Cantilever Method, which is suited to long spans over rivers and other areas where conventional scaffolding below the deck is difficult. Under this method, segments are built out from the piers on both sides in a balanced sequence. The segments are then joined and secured using post-tensioning to form the continuous deck.

Each span consists of 23 segments. These segments were cast at the construction site, with quality checks carried out during the construction process. The method also avoided the need for conventional temporary support structures across the river beneath the bridge.

18 of 21 Gujarat river bridges completed

The Sabarmati structure adds to the progress of river bridge construction on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail corridor. The corridor includes 25 river bridges in total:

• 21 in Gujarat
• 4 in Maharashtra

Of the 21 river bridges planned in Gujarat, 18 have now been completed.

Also Read: Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train : First Steel Bridge Launched in Thane