The first span of a 200-meter-long Make In India steel bridge will be launched this month in Gujarat’s Nadiad as part of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor. The bridge lies along National Highway-48, which connects Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. It will be completed by August.

Weighing around 1,500 metric tonnes, the bridge is 14.3 metres wide and 14.6 metres high. Fabricated at the Salasar workshop near Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur, the bridge parts are painted with a first-of-its-kind C-5 system. Its steel parts have been joined using Tor Shear Type High Strength Bolts (TTHSB), designed for a lifespan of 100 years.

Steel bridges, which usually have spans of 40 to 45 meters, are best suited to facilitate highway, expressway and railway crossings. As part of the bullet train project, a total of 28 steel bridges will be built – 11 in Maharashtra and 17 in Gujarat.

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also inspected the Ahmedabad Railway Station Redevelopment Project and announced that 360 km of the Bullet Train project has been completed, with the Maharashtra section making significant progress. He further added that the Maharashtra section of the Bullet Train project is progressing well, with “almost 2 km of the undersea tunnel ready”.

The Bullet Train project, developed in partnership with Japan, is expected to boost regional connectivity, economic development, and employment in the western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. The MAHSR project, connecting business hubs such as Mumbai, Surat, Vadodara, and Ahmedabad, passes through high-growth regions in Gujarat and Maharashtra. The total sanctioned cost of the project is Rs 1,08,000 crore.