Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project: Longest bridge in Gujarat likely to be completed by 2024

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The longest bridge on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project which is 1.2 km long over the Narama river in Bharuch is likely to be completed by 2024, the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) said recently.

NHSRCL said that all the 20 bridges part of Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail project falling in Gujarat will be completed by June 2024, ANI reported.

Pramod Sharma, Principal Executive Director with NHSRCL, said that the use of latest technology in the construction of the bridges will minimize the time of construction to almost half.

On Wednesday, officials said that the trials of the bullet train will be conducted at a speed of 350 kilometres per hour, comparable to the take-off speed of airplanes.

The first such trial will be held between Bilimora and Surat in Gujarat in 2026, followed by other sections, they said. The operational speed of the trains will be 320 kmph.

"It will be a gamechanger for travellers and competition to air travel. The bullet trains will have less check-in time, more leg space and most of all, connectivity, which is denied on-board airplanes."

"We will conduct the trials at 350 kmph, but the operational speed will be 320 kmph," an official said.

The trains will run on special tracks called the "slab track system", popularly known as HSR technology for construction of tracks, patented by the Japanese. Trains running at a speed of 350 kmph will be fit to run on these tracks, the officials said.

The services will come at a fare at par with economy-class flight and is likely to have a higher free-luggage limit, sources said.

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