NEW DELHI (Metro Rail News): National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHRCL) has adopted a new and advanced construction technique, the Full Span Launching Method (FSLM) in order to speed up the construction of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project. A straddle carrier is used to handle the Full Span Precast Box Girders.
NHRCL is using heavy equipment and machinery to speed up the bullet train construction process which is used for the first time in the country. The tyre-mounted self-propelled Straddle Carrier weighs approx. 620 MT and has a lifting capacity of 1100MT.
The Straddle Carrier lifts the girder from the casting bed and transports it to the stacking yard. After that, it feeds the girder from stacking yard to bridge gantry for erection over piers. NHRCL has erected the 40 metre full span box girder weighing around 970 MT, involving 42 MT of steel, in November 2021. It is also the heaviest pre-stressed concrete box girder in the country’s construction industry.
It is for the first time, that a girder transporter is deployed for accelerating the construction process. The girder transporter, a 27 axle tyre-mounted (i.e.216 numbers of wheels) self-propelled trolley, has a carrying capacity of 1100MT. Girder transporter weighs around 390 MT.
As per NHRCL, the girder transporter is used to transport precast girders (40 m span) over the already erected girders and it feeds the girders to the launching gantry for erection over the piers. Launching gantry weighs approx. 540 MT and handling capacity of 1100 MTThe 508 km long Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor will include 12 stations on its route and reduce the travel time between the two major cities to around three hours, including halts at all stations. Once ready for service, this train will operate at a speed of 320 km per hour.
Beautiful. Thrilling. So happy thar such techniques are being used.