The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) has completed the 480-metre-long bridge over the Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad as part of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor.
The bridge stands around 36 metres above ground level, equivalent to the height of a 12-storey building. It is located between the Sabarmati and Ahmedabad bullet train stations, approximately 1 km from Sabarmati station and 4 km from Ahmedabad station.
The structure has been designed to accommodate the existing infrastructure in the area, including the Ahmedabad-Delhi railway line, which is located around 14.8 metres above ground level. The height of the bridge’s piers was therefore designed to provide the required clearance.
The bridge is supported by eight circular piers, each measuring between 6 metres and 6.5 metres in diameter. Four piers are positioned within the riverbed, while two are located on the riverbanks, one on either side, and two more are placed outside the riverbanks. Their placement has been planned to minimise obstruction to the river’s waterway.
Unlike several other river bridges on the MAHSR corridor, which generally use spans of around 40 metres, the Sabarmati bridge has longer spans ranging from 50 metres to 76 metres. The structure comprises five 76-metre spans and two 50-metre spans.
The longer spans have reduced the number of piers required within the riverbed. This design is particularly suited to the river crossing, where limiting the obstruction caused by support structures is an important construction consideration.
Construction of the bridge was carried out using the Balanced Cantilever Method, a technique used for long-span bridges over rivers and deep waterways. Under this method, the bridge deck is constructed outward from the piers in balanced sections, avoiding the need for conventional support structures beneath the entire deck.
The segments for the bridge were cast at the construction site and joined through post-tensioning. Each span consists of 23 segments, which were constructed and assembled with precision checks at different stages of the work.
The Sabarmati River crossing is part of the wider bridge network being developed along the 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor. The corridor includes 25 river bridges, of which 21 are located in Gujarat and four in Maharashtra.
With the completion of the Sabarmati bridge, 18 of the 21 planned river bridges in Gujarat have now been completed. The project’s river crossings include bridges over several major rivers across Gujarat and Maharashtra, forming an important part of the high-speed rail alignment.
The Sabarmati bridge connects two key stations on the Ahmedabad section of the corridor and adds another completed major structure to the project, where bridge, viaduct, track and other railway-system works are progressing across different sections.