Ahmedabad, October 3: Construction of the 480-metre-long Sabarmati River bridge on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail corridor has been completed, taking the number of completed river bridges in Gujarat on the Bullet Train route to 18 out of 21.
Located between Sabarmati and Ahmedabad Bullet Train stations, the bridge stands about 36 metres tall, roughly equivalent to a 12-storey building. It is situated around 1 km from Sabarmati station and 4 km from Ahmedabad station.
The structure has been built adjacent to the Western Railway’s Ahmedabad-Delhi main line, which runs about 14.8 metres above ground level.
According to the government, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail alignment in Ahmedabad crosses several existing infrastructure facilities, including flyovers, bridges, railway lines and metro corridors. To maintain the required vertical clearances, the piers of the Sabarmati River bridge were designed with increased height.
The bridge is supported by eight circular piers with diameters ranging from 6 metres to 6.5 metres. Of these, four are located within the riverbed, two are positioned on the riverbanks and two are outside the riverbanks.
The placement of the piers has helped minimise obstruction to the river waterway.
While most river bridges on the Bullet Train corridor have shorter spans of around 40 metres, the Sabarmati River bridge incorporates longer spans ranging from 50 metres to 76 metres, reducing the number of piers required within the riverbed.
The bridge comprises five spans of 76 metres each and two spans of 50 metres each. Each span consists of 23 segments that were cast in situ at the construction site.
The structure was built using the Balanced Cantilever Method, a technique suited to long-span bridges over rivers and deep waterways. Under this method, segments are sequentially erected from the piers on both sides and joined through post-tensioning, allowing the bridge deck to be constructed without conventional scaffolding below.
The Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train corridor features 25 river bridges in total, including 21 in Gujarat and four in Maharashtra.
With the completion of the Sabarmati River bridge, 18 of the 21 river bridges planned in Gujarat have now been completed.
