The Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project will have a J-Slab track system of ballastless track based on the Japanese Shinkansen track system. This is for the first time that the J-slab ballastless track system is being used in India. The two state-of-the-art track slab manufacturing facilities are fully functional in Surat and Anand.
A ballastless track or slab track is a type of railway track infrastructure in which the traditional elastic combination of ties/sleepers and ballast is replaced by a rigid construction of concrete. Performance of Slab Track is better for High Speed Railway due to its higher flexural stiffness and it is because of this that the forces in Slab Track are distributed over a larger area and deflections are considerably less.
According to a spokesperson from the National High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL), over 35,000 MT of JIS rails and three sets of track construction machinery have been received at Surat and Vadodara while the first mountain tunnel of 350 m length near Zaroli Village in Valsad is completed. Similarly, three steel bridges spanning 70 meters, 100 meters and 130 meters have been constructed at Surat, Anand and Vadodara respectively.
Providing the status of the project, the spokesperson said that the work of eight river bridges out of total 24 on Bullet Train corridor viz. Par (Valsad district), Purna (Navsari district), Mindhola (Navsari district), Ambika (Navsari district), Auranga (Valsad district), Venganiya (Navsari district), Mohar (Kheda district) and Dhadhar (Vadodara district) has been completed and the work on other important rivers -- Narmada, Tapti, Mahi and Sabarmati is in progress.
While the work for India’s first 7-km undersea rail tunnel which is a part of 21-km-long tunnel between BKC and Shilphata in Maharashtra, has already commenced, the excavation works for construction of Mumbai Bullet Train station and for the shaft for underground/undersea tunnel is in progress.
All civil contracts awarded for Gujarat and Maharashtra and the 190 km of viaduct and 321 km of pier work has been completed for the project. The NHSRCL has completed acquisition of land in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Dadra & Nagar Haveli while the contracts for all depot and electrical works have been awarded.
The NHSRCL will also be adopting an automated Rainfall Monitoring System to ensure safe operations of bullet train services. This system will provide real time data on the rainfall using rain gauges, equipped with an advanced instrumentation system. The influence radius of these rain gauges is nearly 10 km. It measures and monitors rainfall every hour and 24-hour which is crucial for making informed decisions regarding train operations, particularly in areas susceptible to heavy rainfall, and its effects on earth structures and natural slopes, the NHSRCL had said.
.jpg)
