Bullet train construction over mainline to start in Vadodara city, NHSRCL seeks ‘safety blocks’ from Western Railways

“We have approached Western Railways and they have given an in-principle agreement to give blocks during the daytime,” an NHSRCL official said.

Chief PRO, Western Railways, Vineet Abhishek said that the discussion with the NHSRCL was in an “early stage” to draw up a plan of action for the “movement of passenger trains and regular railway traffic”.

This request was made to enable the construction of a viaduct over the main passenger line — which is the only section of the entire 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor that has been re-aligned to avoid the displacement of the busy Kadak bazaar, and also to prevent crane boom movement at higher altitudes in the area which could obstruct flight paths, saving, in the process, Rs 2000 crore of the sanctioned project cost of Rs 1,08,000 crore, officials said.

They aim to complete the civil work for the 352-km-long Gujarat section of the corridor, of which eight km passes Vadodara city, known as the “C5 package” by the end of this year. The elevated corridor will have 32 spans crossing over the railway line, half of which will be over the passenger line and the rest over the freight corridor.

According to officials of the NHSRCL, given the challenges of aligning the corridor as close to the existing railway line as possible, the Vadodara crossover is the only section in the bullet train project that has been “redesigned.”
Work for the corridor had begun in 2021, according to a past construction alignment plan in 2017. Per that alignment, bullet trains would have crossed the six busy railway platforms of Vadodara junction with a High Speed Rail (HSR) station coming up at the Kadak Bazar across the street from the Vadodara station.

The old proposal had led to staunch opposition from local people in 2017-18 as it also involved the acquisition of private land and posed a logistical challenge in needing to construct the viaduct over the operational railway platforms.

The original design required a 220m girder span to be launched across 13 railway lines, including the six platforms of Vadodara junction and the railway yard, which NHSRCL officials say has not even been built for the Japanese Shinkansen high-speed network — posing a challenge in terms of “technical design, time estimation, and also cost”, as the construction was expected to require 25000 MT of steel.

Referred to as the “Rajdhani line”, given Vadodara’s importance as a railway junction for the express trains on the Delhi and Mumbai routes, the main passenger line crossover in Vadodara is among the “trickiest” constructions of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train route, say officials.

A senior official connected with the project told The Indian Express, “The original alignment (as per the survey of 2017) would have required us to cross over the entire yard of railway lines, including the main passenger line. This has now been reduced to crossing the span over only two main lines between the Akota and Jetalpur bridges in Vadodara city with a change in alignment of about 4.3 km. In fact, it is the only part of the entire 508-km stretch where the original design has been revised.”

The earlier plan would have meant raising the launching arm of the crane to 131 metres from mean sea level, far higher than the permitted height of 95.9 metres as per the Airports Authority of India for the Vadodara railway station area.

Vivek Kumar Gupta, Managing Director, NHSRCL, said, “Upon review by our engineers and Japanese counterparts, we re-engineered a section which not only simplified the span launching process, and reduced construction time, but also achieved a cost savings of Rs 2000 crore. Furthermore, we avoided the displacement of commercial and residential units, ensuring minimal disturbance to railway services and residents.”

Gupta added, “The Vadodara Bullet Train station (HSR) is now integrated with Vadodara Railway station, is strategically positioned for better accessibility, providing multi-modal integration with other transportation options and ample parking facilities, thereby enhancing connectivity for passengers.”

An official connected with the project said, “To ensure a smooth construction with minimal effect on the railway traffic, we have planned to launch composite girders, which are composed of steel girders and concrete deck slabs. We are in discussion with the railways to plan the blocks that would be needed for completing the launching of the steel girders. From the safety point of view, the composite girders are most convenient for the main line.”

During the time of constructing these girders and slabs, the regular passenger trains plying below will have to follow a speed restriction of 30 kmph.

An official told this paper that the NHSRCL has planned to complete the composite girder spans on the Surat end and Ahmedabad end of Vadodara by seeking designated three-hour railway blocks, beginning in March. Eleven spans are planned for the Surat end and five for the Ahmedabad end. “Since we are tackling four spans at one time, the block would be minimised. We have planned to complete the first part of the span launching on the Surat end within 37 days… and thereafter for the Ahmedabad end later this year.”

The official adds that the NHSRCL and the Western Railways are working closely to identify time between passenger trains to create a space where the railways could hold back passage of goods trains.”