With support from Japan, India is building its first high-speed rail network. Signalling a new era for rail travel in the country, steel is a significant connecting part.
India’s National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited is now deep into the construction of 28 steel bridges for the country’s first high-speed rail corridor connecting the second-largest city, Mumbai, with its manufacturing centre, Ahmedabad. The 508km journey, which currently takes about five hours, should take around two hours when India’s first bullet trains, with top speeds of 320km/h, take to the track.
Steel is the preferred material for bridges covering roads and highways, because it can be produced for longer unsupported spans than similar cement structures.
The first bridge on the route was completed in October 2023. Spanning 70m over National Highway 53 in Surat, Gujarat, this steel bridge comprises around 700 individual steel pieces. In line with the Make in India initiative, which focuses on developing a robust Indian manufacturing sector, these pieces, which in total weigh 673 metric tonnes, were made locally in Hapur and assembled onsite. Measuring up to 14m high, the bridge was put together using piers up to 12m high.
The second steel bridge, spanning 100m, has now been completed in Anand and a third, 130m, steel bridge, weighing 3,000 metric tonnes and standing 18m high and 14.9m wide, has been completed over the Delhi-Mumbai National Expressway near Vadodara. It was put together in 24 hours and required over 120,000 tor-shear type high strength (TTHS) bolts.
The fourth and last bridge to date was completed in August 2024. This 100m long structure near Silvassa weighs 1,464 metric tonnes and is 14.6m high and 14.3m wide. Over 27,000 high-strength friction grip bolts were deployed to connect the components of the bridge launching nose and about 55,250 TTHS bolts with C5 corrosion protection system painting and elastomeric bearings were used for the main bridge.
A consortium of Indian multinational Larsen and Toubro Construction and Japan’s IHI Infrastructure Systems has the contract for all 28 steel truss bridges. Having pioneered bullet train technology, Japan is providing the technical support and technology for the project, which is estimated to cost in the region of $15 billion.
India’s National High Speed Rail Ltd, which holds overall responsibility for the high-speed project, forecasts that together all 28 bridges will require around 70,000 metric tonnes of steel. It hasn’t yet given a completion date for all or part of the project, but one thing is certain, it will be the start of a revolution in India’s transport network and steel will continue to play a major part in its rollout.