The first prototype coach of the Hyderabad Metro Rail, manufactured by Hyundai Rotterdam, will arrive in August this year. It will also be put up for public display, said HMR Managing Director N.V.S. Reddy on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters at the Uppal depot, where facilities including the main workshop, communication centre and an electric sub-station are under construction at a frenetic pace, he said the project was very much on schedule.
“We are even trying to complete it before the June 2017 deadline,” he added. Mr. Reddy complimented the L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) engineers for designing the unique single-pier-based cantilever stations unlike those in Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Jaipur Metro and the next stage of the Delhi Metro will adopt the design as it uses minimum space on the ground below. Site specific solutions are being worked out for constructing piers or pillars across the six stretches on Corridor-I (L.B. Nagar-Miyapur) and Corridor-III (Nagole-Shilparamam-Raidurg) stages where works are on, he said.
Mr. Reddy showed how sheet rock is excavated with hand chiselling as no detonators are allowed, and water/sewer lines are relocated and telecom/power cables are tackled for each pier foundation.
ADVERTISEMENT
He also explained how flyovers were skirted without disrupting traffic using special cantilever pier design as in Tarnaka as the Osmania University land was left untouched.
At Uppal, the first overhead station is under construction, with steel-concrete spans stretching out and seven of the 10 beams already cast.
The station will be built at two-levels – concourse and platform connected by lifts, escalators and stairs.
Care is being taken to see that the gap between the train and the platform will be such that even a child’s foot can’t fit in. On the viaduct, both sets of rails (three-metre-wide each) will be separated by 1.5 metres.
The schedule of designs has also been submitted to the Commissioner of Rail Safety, he said.