Having crossed the Nalgonda flyover successfully, metro rail engineers of Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) and L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad (L&TMRH) are set to put structures in place to build the elevated viaduct over the Punjagutta flyover, one of huge crossovers.
Not only is it an engineering challenge but the fact that the junction is the busiest in the city and work has to be done without disrupting the traffic flow either on the flyover or on ground means the task is cut out for the metro rail engineers.
Construction of the lengthy viaduct of about 190 ft without a pier support including a single span of 58 metres will be done on the site itself. “It will take about three to four months to get the viaduct to cross over. Traffic will continue to move underneath and on the flyover as the span will be at least six metres high or 14 ft from the flyover,” explained HMR managing director N.V.S. Reddy.
From the road level below, it will be little more than 62 ft high. The entire work will be done in three stages for the steel girders and concrete pouring to be set in place. Similar crossovers of 190 ft length are going to be taken up at Balanagar crossroads, Khairatabad and M.J. Market.
Traffic studies conducted by Lea Associates has suggested going for big obligatory spans at junctions to take care of future traffic flows as the metro rail will have to cross over 80 such junctions. About 28 junctions will have this kind of construction and among them the lengthy single span crossovers are at Parade Grounds (180 ft), Hi-Tec City (151 ft) and Uppal, Habsiguda, Dharam-Karan junction, Yousufguda, Madhapur, JNTU, S.R. Nagar and Lakidikapul (148 ft).
Miyapur depot ready
HMR & L&TMRH’s second major depot at Miyapur spread over a 100 acre site is also complete in all respects. The 18 three-coach trains sourced from Hyundai Rotem are stationed in the first major depot at Uppal (also about 100 acres) and are undergoing trial runs on the completed viaduct between Nagole and Mettuguda or stage one of the construction schedule where all the eight stations overhead have been completed.
At Miyapur, which will be the maintenance depot for the corridor one – Miyapur to L.B. Nagar, there are currently 10 trains of three coaches each. Although test track on ground inside the depot has been laid, according to metro rail officials, the trains are yet to be tested. The 10 stations between Miyapur - S.R. Nagar (stage two of the construction schedule) are nearing completion.
Demolitions at Secunderabad railway station
While there are 250-odd properties to be acquired across the 72 km route in the three corridors where the metro project is under construction, the authorities are chipping away slowly. A significant achievement has been to take over the properties near the Jubilee Check Post after more than five years of political and legal wrangling, especially the corner one. Demolitions are apace at Secunderabad railway station, Yousufguda, Madhuranagar and other sites.
Foundations laid – 1824 or 48 km, Piers 1718 or 45 km, and viaduct – 36 km.
