India's Bullet Train Project Completes First Mountain Tunnel

10 Oct 2023 CW Team

India’s Bullet Train project achieved another milestone with the breakthrough of a mountain tunnel. This is the first mountain tunnel for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor project. The entire corridor will have seven mountain tunnels.

Location and Completion of Mountain Tunnel:-

The mountain tunnel was built by the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) in under 10 months. It is around a kilometer distant from Zaroli Village in Gujarat's Valsad district's Umbergaon Taluka. The tunnel construction consists of a tunnel, a tunnel portal, and additional connecting elements such a tunnel entry hood.

How was the first mountain tunnel built for the NHSRCL?

The New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) is being used by the NHSRCL to build the tunnel. This contains the subsequent steps:-

Marking of drill holes on the tunnel face
Drilling of holes
Charging of explosives
Controlled Blasting
Removal of muck (blasted rock pieces)
Installation of primary support which includes steel ribs, lattice girder, shotcrete, rock bolts based on the type of rocks as assessed by geologist after each blast

Features of the first mountain tunnel built by the Bullet Train Project:

The tunnel is 350 meters long in total.
The tunnel has a 12.6 meter diameter.
The tunnel is 10.25 meters in height.
The tunnel is formed like a horseshoe with one tube.
There will be a total of 2 tracks laid.

establishing a new facility to manufacture track slabs

The NHSRCL opened a new Track Slab Manufacturing Facility (TSMF) last week in Anand, Gujarat, to produce the track slabs needed for the MAHSR project's development of ballast-free track works. Each day, it will create about 60 slabs.

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