The first span & wing steel support frame forming the overhead station of the metro rail is in place at the proposed Uppal station on the Nagole-Mettuguda stretch, the stage one of the project.
L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) is also planning to begin work on four other stations on the stretch by the month-end.
There will be seven overhead stations for stage one where some of the spans forming the viaduct atop are being put in place. Along with Uppal, station construction works are set to begin at Nagole, Habsiguda and Tarnaka too.
More than 200 piers or pillars are built on the stretch so far and the station piers can easily be distinguished by the two level hinges. With the help of the span & wing steel frame, pre-cast fabricated concrete beams will be placed alongside each other and “stitch concreted” and stressed together, explained Hyderabad Metro Rail Managing Director N.V.S. Reddy.
“Seventy per cent of the station work will be pre-fabricated and it will reduce the hassle for the commuters on the road,” he said.
The stations standing on single piers will be of two levels with the platform part on top (20-25 ft - from the ground) and concourse level beneath (40-45 ft from the ground) from where commuters will first land from the road beneath. Escalators, lifts and staircases will be connecting concourse to the ground and from the concourse to the platform.
“The single pier station design instead of the usual three piers will give an aesthetic touch, free the road space below and allow for sufficient natural light,” he pointed put. The concourse will open into unpaid section and through automatic fare collection gates the paid section with kiosks. Only 20 per cent of the station place is open for commercial exploitation, averred Mr. Reddy.
Each of the seven stations on the stretch is separated by a distance of about a kilometre here. General stations widths will be 20 metres or 65 ft and length of 135 metres. Shortest distance between two stations here is between NGRI-Habsiguda: 0.86 km and relatively lengthier between Tarnaka-Mettuguda: 1.25 km. IIT Delhi is into designing the road level pedestrian spaces with landscaping, street furniture, hawkers zones, auto and bus bays, he added.
