Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that 300 kilometres of viaducts for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project have been completed. He also shared a video showing the construction work using the Full Span Launching Method (FSLM), which helps in building large sections of the structure quickly.

The National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL), which is handling the 508-km bullet train project, confirmed this progress. It said that the milestone was achieved with the launch of a 40-metre-long girder near Surat in Gujarat.

According to NHSRCL, out of the 300 km of the superstructure, 257.4 km was built using the FSLM. This method includes 14 river bridges. Additionally, 37.8 km was built using the Span by Span (SBS) method, 0.9 km with steel bridges (made up of 10 spans between 60 and 130 metres across 7 bridges), 1.2 km with PSC bridges (20 spans between 40 and 80 metres across 5 bridges), and 2.7 km was built inside the station buildings.

The agency explained that the Full Span Launching Method is much faster than the old methods. “The FSLM has significantly accelerated construction, as full-span girder erection is up to 10 times faster than conventional segmental methods,” NHSRCL said.

So far, a lot of construction work has been done for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train. Workers have completed 383 kilometres of pier work (the vertical supports), 401 kilometres of foundation (the base structure), and 326 kilometres of girder casting (the horizontal parts that support the track).

The bullet train will stop at 12 stations in total—nine in Gujarat and three in Maharashtra. Out of all the stations, the Mumbai station will be built underground, and the rest will be built on raised platforms (elevated).

The entire project will cost around ₹1.08 lakh crore. The central government will pay ₹10,000 crore, and the governments of Gujarat and Maharashtra will pay ₹5,000 crore each.

Last month, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the bullet train project might be finished by the end of 2028.

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