The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) today marked a milestone in its Mumbai -Ahmedabad high-speed railway (MAHSR) project with the erection of first steel bridge.

The 70-metre-long steel bridge was erected across NH-53 in Surat in Gujarat and is the first of the 28 steel bridges which will be the part of MAHSR corridor.

Steel bridges are most suitable to cross Highways, Expressways and Railways lines. The country has a long expertise in fabricating Steel bridges for heavy haul and semi high-speed trains which run between 100 and 160 kmph.

This is the first time, a Steel bridge to support a Shinkansen Bullet train running at a speed of 320 km per hour was fabricated and successfully launched with precision.

Approximately 70,000 MT of specified steel is estimated to be used in the making of these steel bridges.

Indigeneous Capability

Along with Japanese knowhow, India is increasingly utilizing its indigenous technical and material capabilities to build the infrastructure under Make-in-India vision.

Once ready at the workshop at Hapur district In Uttar Pradesh, near the national capital Delhi, which is almost 1200 km away from location of bridge site, the steel structure, consisting of around 700 pieces and weighing 673 Metric tonnes, was transported on trailers to the site of installation.

At the site, the Steel Bridge of 12 to 14 meter in height was assembled on the staging above 10- to 12-meter-high piers. Thereafter the launching nose of nearly 200 metric tons weight was assembled with the main bridge assembly.

With massive care and expertise, the Bridge Assembly was pulled to its intended span through specially designed pulling arrangement under the complete traffic block on NH 53.

Each production batch of steel was tested by Ultrasonic Testing (UT) at the manufacturer’s premises.

The making of steel bridges underwent high-tech and precise operations of cutting, drilling, welding and painting as per the design drawings prepared by Japanese engineer.

Further, the welding process has been monitored by Japanese International Welding Experts (IWE) stationed at each workshop, with fabricated structure undergoing Check Assembly process.

Conforming to C-5 Painting system of Japan Road Association’s “Handbook for Corrosion Protection of Steel Road Bridges”, in a first in India, the steel girder has been painted with a sophisticated five-layered painting.