Team Blitz India
The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project will have J-slab track system based on the Japanese Shinkansen track system. This is for the first time that the J-slab ballastless track system is being used in India.
For the alignment in Gujarat & Dadar Nagar Haveli, 704 km of track is to be laid on viaduct and two bullet train depots will be set up at Sabarmati and Surat. The entire process of track installation is mechanised with cuttingedge machinery especially designed and manufactured as per Japanese specifications. In keeping with the Make-in-India (MII) policy, some of the machines are now being manufactured in India also. The track-laying work in Gujarat is progressing well. More than 35,000 mt of rails and three sets of track construction machinery have been received at Surat and Vadodara for the project.
The fleet of machines includes rail feeder car, track slab laying car, CAM laying car and flash butt welding machine, which will be used for track construction works. The assembly, testing and commissioning of these machines is in progress.
The 25 m long 60 kg rails are welded using Flash butt welding machine (FBWM) to form 200 m long panels near the TCB (track construction base) over the viaduct. Total 3 FBWM have been procured till now, and the same have to pass through stringent approvals prior to commencement of rail welding fit for allowing high speed train running at 320 kmph.
The training for rail weld finishing and rail weld testing have been completed by Japanese experts. Precast track slabs are lifted on to the viaduct, loaded on specially designed SLC and moved to the track laying location. By using SLC, which can pick 5 slabs at a time, track slabs are laid in position on the RC track bed. At least three SLC have been arranged for slab laying work.
