Last Updated:
Bullet train: Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor will incorporate canted turnouts and movable crossings
A key feature of the development is the Multi-Modal Transport Hub being constructed at Sabarmati. The facility is designed to bring several modes of public transport together, allowing passengers to transfer between the bullet train and other services more conveniently. The hub will connect the high-speed rail station with the existing Sabarmati broad-gauge railway station, Ahmedabad Metro and the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS).
The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor is incorporating canted turnouts and movable crossings to enable India’s first bullet train to switch tracks at speeds up to 320 kmph without experiencing mechanical jolts.
This advanced infrastructure eliminates the conventional open physical gaps found on standard tracks, ensuring a continuous running surface and minimizing lateral forces.
THE TWO TECHONOLOGIES
The smooth, jolt-free track changing on India’s Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor relies on a combination of two primary advanced track engineering technologies: Canted Turnouts and Movable Crossings (also known as Swing-Nose Crossings).
Conventional railway networks rely on a fixed “gap” where tracks cross over, creating a mechanical thud or bump.
HOW THEY WORK
This high-speed technology fundamentally changes how tracks align:
1. Movable Crossings (Swing-Nose Crossings)
On traditional tracks, the point where two rails intersect (called the crossing or “frog”) has a physical, open gap to allow the wheels crossing on the intersecting path to pass through. At speeds of 320 kmph, hitting this gap would generate extreme dynamic impact, severe vibration, and heavy wear and tear.
The National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) uses movable crossings where the point machine physically shifts the “nose” of the rail to tightly lock against the main rail.
It creates a completely continuous running surface. The gap is entirely eliminated, allowing the train’s wheels to glide across smoothly as if it were a single, uninterrupted rail.
2. Canted Turnouts
“Turnouts” are the mechanical installations that guide trains from one track to another. On normal tracks, turnouts are generally flat and lack the banking (inclination) found on regular curved sections.
A canted turnout maintains a uniform mathematical gradient and banking—meaning the outer rail is physically elevated higher than the inner rail.
This structural banking directly counteracts the lateral centrifugal forces pulling at the train during high-speed transitions. It eliminates sudden side-to-side jerks, drastically reducing vibrations and providing a completely stable cabin experience for passengers.
This high-speed infrastructure is backed by precision digital architecture, including specialized point machines, advanced interlocking, and automated rail detection systems to guarantee safety at maximum operational speeds.
ABOUT BULLET TRAIN
The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor, popularly known as India’s first bullet train project, is a 508-km under-construction rail network that will connect Mumbai (Maharashtra) with Ahmedabad (Gujarat). Utilising advanced Japanese Shinkansen E5 technology, the train is designed to operate at speeds up to 320 km/h, drastically reducing the travel time between the two major economic hubs from over seven hours to just two hours.
The route features 12 strategically planned stations, including a complex 21-km underground section near Mumbai that features India’s first-ever undersea rail tunnel beneath Thane Creek.
Largely funded by a soft loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the project is targeted to launch its first trial section between Surat and Bilimora by 2027, with the full corridor expected to become fully operational by 2029–2030.
With ANI, agency inputs
Quick Answers
Ask News18The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor incorporates canted turnouts and movable swing-nose crossings, which eliminate traditional open track gaps and maintain structural banking to prevent mechanical jolts and lateral forces at 320 kmph.
Ask News18About the Author
At the news desk for 20 years, the story of her life has revolved around finding pun, facts while reporting, on radio, heading a daily newspaper desk, teaching mass media students to now editing speci…Read More
September 23, 2026, 7:05 PM IST
Read More
Source link
[ad_3]
