City’s ongoing elevated metro project has created a construction record by completing 27 kilometres of metro viaduct in just 20 months.
While the first between two pillars was erected near Genpact in Habsiguda in December 2012, the 1,000th was done on Sunday near S.R.Nagar bus stop, thus completing 38 per cent of viaduct works.
A total of 2,665 spans are required for 72 km of viaduct spread over three corridors: Miyapur to L.B.Nagar, JBS to Falaknuma and Nagole to Shilparamam/Raidurg.
The significance of record can be measured by the fact that Mumbai Metro Rail took about seven years to complete 11 km of metro viaduct; Bangalore and Chennai took over five years to complete about 25 km of viaduct each. Delhi took more than three years to achieve the same.
Engineering feat HMR’s engineering feat of fast construction in congested roads of Hyderabad with a good safety record was possible due to a number of proactive measures taken by the State Government and the engineering capabilities of L&T, said Managing Director N.V.S. Reddy.
As on date 1,473 foundations (56 per cent), 1,370 pillars (52 per cent) are completed.
The Government too had facilitated setting up of the country’s two biggest precast yards, one at Uppal in 70 acres and another one at Qutbullahpur in 62 acres where L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad had established factory-like precast yards with sophisticated machinery such as automatic steel cutting and bending machines to produce precast segments each weighing about 40 tons, he said.
Precast segments are being transported in the night on low-bedded trolleys to various metro construction sites and erected between metro pillars with the help of “launching girders”. In all, 15 launching girders are being used to carry out these erection works simultaneously at several spots.
General length between two pillars is 100 feet, bridged by 11 precast segments. They are then glued and tied with a bunch of iron strands from inside, elongated and permanently grouted. The viaduct spans can withstand heavy loads plus heavy gales or earthquakes.
CM’s pat for HMR Meanwhile, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao congratulated HMR & L&TMRH engineers for the achievement on being informed by the MD.
