VADODARA: For any layman, it would be a replica of the famous Howrah bridge that remains with a suspended span over the Hooghly river in West Bengal. But for the engineers who are putting their best foot and brain behind this, it is nothing but an engineering marvel For the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) which is implementing the prestigious Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project, it is Vadodara that has posed the project’s biggest engineering challenge.When NHSRCL was finalising the alignment of the bullet train project, the popular demand from the public both in Ahmedabad and Vadodara was to provide bullet train’s connectivity with the present railway stations of Indian Railways (IR).“We could have directly reached Sabarmati but in the willingness survey, we came across the strong demand to provide connectivity with the present IR stations,” said Achal Khare, managing director of NHSRCL.“In Vadodara, we started facing issues as the alignment passes through platform number six. We have to do construction in such a way that platform number six remains operational. But if we run the alignment straight from platform number six, we would have to demolish a lot of buildings and structures on way,” he said.The option before the officials was to connect platform number six to platform number seven for bullet train’s alignment. “But for that we have to cross the entire yard along with the main line of the IR and all the platforms below,” he said.“For reaching platform number seven, we have to place a 220 metre long span on the elevated corridor which is 15 metre above the present main line of IR,” he said, adding that for this, they are designing a steel bridge similar to that of Howrah bridge.“But when Japanese started designing it, the design was falling in the Vadodara airport restriction zone as its height was in the flying obstruction zone. So, we did not get permission and had to revise its design. The present design does not fall in the restriction zone,” he said.“Even Japanese have not used such a long span for Shinkansen. In fact, the 220 metre long span has never been used anywhere in the world for any bullet train project,” he said, adding that for assembling and launching the steel bridge, platform number seven of Vadodara railway station will be closed down.“To provide an alternative to passengers, we are helping in development of Chhayapuri railway station which is being developed as a satellite railway station,” he said.“To install the long bridge, we will put a temporary girder across the yard and install a huge hinge. Later, we will be rotating the span through the hinge and sliding it. Spans are often rotated in IR but it will be for the first time that both rotation and sliding of such a long span will be done. This is the biggest challenge we have faced and it is nothing short of an engineering marvel when the span will be erected,” he said, adding that even he will be witnessing this for the first time in his over three decades long career with IR.

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