A-216-wheeled equipment for launching multi-tonne girders for India’s first high speed rail project on Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor is ready to roll. On September 9, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw flagged off the indigenously designed and manufactured ‘Full Span Launching Equipment (FSLE) Straddle Carrier and Girder Transporter’ to expedite the construction of viaduct for Rs 1.1 lakh crore Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project.
This 1,100 metric tonne (MT) FSLE has been manufactured by Larsen & Toubro at Kanchipuram. This massive equipment will expedite the process of launching girders as the precast girders of full span length will be erected as a single piece for double-track viaduct.
Railway officials said the standard precast pre-stressed concrete (PSC) box girders weigh in the range of 700 to 975MT and span 30, 35 and 45 meters. They will be launched using FSLM methodology. The heaviest PSC box girder weighing 975 MT and of 40-meter length will be used for the first time in the construction industry in India.
The first girder is expected to be launched by mid-October and by November this equipment will be used to launch more girders. A total of 20 such launching equipment will be required for the construction of 325 km of viaduct superstructures between Vapi and Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat.
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “More High Speed Rail projects are in the pipeline. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail is expected to create more than 90000 jobs in this area”.
India is now coming in the select group of countries like Italy, Norway, Korea, and China which have been designing and manufacturing such equipment. SN Subrahmanyan, CEO and MD, L&T Construction said: “Both these equipment have been entirely designed and developed in-house and customised to specific requirements of the High Speed Rail project. There are several challenges to build at such speed and scale, but we are committed to take on this mammoth challenge to deliver India’s first high-speed rail project in time and to quality.”