When construction is completed in 2023, the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) will be India's longest sea bridge, with a length of 21.8 kilometres. It will connect the island city of Mumbai with the district of Navi Mumbai, across the sea inlet that separates them. The entire project is divided into three packages of lengths 10.38 km, 7.8 km and 3.6 km.

A large number of bearings were required for Package 02, the main crossing of length 7.8 kilometres, to support the superstructure on its many piers. Having designed and manufactured the bearings and expansion joints used in the construction of the Bandra Worli Sea Link a decade earlier, the supply specialists at mageba’s Kolkata subsidiary were in a good position to offer their expertise towards the building of the city’s next major sea bridge. Following detailed consultations, the use of RESTON®SPHERICAL bearings was agreed upon – a type of bearing that had already been used in numerous bridge construction projects around India, such as the Chenab Railway Bridge, the New Jubilee Bridge in Kolkata and the Statue of Unity access bridges in Gujarat. Over 400 of these bearings have now been supplied, designed for vertical loads of up to 30,990 kN, horizontal forces of up to 9720 kN and, in some cases, uplift forces of 1250 kN. Where required by the bridge’s design, they were also supplied with the ability to accommodate sliding movements of 250 mm.

The project also requires a number of expansion joints for Packages 01 and 02, for which mageba will supply suitably designed joints of the TENSA®MODULAR type – the type used in such other major Indian bridges as the Wazirabad Signature Bridge in Delhi (12-gap joints) and the Second Hooghly Bridge in Kolkata (11-gap joints). The Mumbai Trans Harbour Link’s expansion joints shall have movement capacities of 400 mm (type LR5, with 5 gaps), 480 mm (type LR6), 560 mm (type LR7) and 640 mm (type LR8). Some of the 7-gap joints shall be designed to additionally accommodate large transverse movements of up to 155 mm. Further special features include designing for connection to steel structures without concreting, and designing to avoid becoming dislodged during an earthquake. 

This project reinforces once again one of the main principles upon which mageba has operated since it was founded in 1963 – and more locally, since the company’s Kolkata subsidiary was established in 2007: the value of local connections in each market we serve. In many countries we achieve this by means of a permanent presence in the form of production facilities, sales offices or agents. But perhaps more important in terms of gaining and keeping clients’ confidence, leading to connections for future projects, is the competence of our people in clarifying and meeting project requirements and the long-term performance of the products they supply. This is what we aim for, every day and on every project – in India and everywhere else around the world.