February  2010  

Tunneling under the Najafgarh drain (Sahibi River) - An engineering challenge

O.P. Singh

To extend the Metro from Vishwa Vidyalaya to Jahangirpuri, 1.1 km of tunnelling was required, including one underground station and 5.2 km of an elevated section. Constructing an underground tunnel presented some unusual constraints at the drain crossing because the top of the underground tunnel was almost at the invert level of the drain and a three-span RCC slab supported on old masonry piers served as a bridge at the tunnel crossing. Therefore, construction methodology involved tackling the drain and the bridge. The underground Metro corridor runs under one-half of the existing carriageway.



















The deepest tunnelling in New Delhi for airport express line

O.P. Singh and P.K. Garg

The Airport Express Line is about 22.7 km high-speed metro connection between New Delhi Railway Station and Indira Gandhi International Airport and extends upto Dwarka sub city. The line has both underground and elevated tracks. Therefore, the construction methods included tunnelling by TBM, NATM, cut and cover and elevated sections by launching of precast girders. This line has a design speed of 135 kmph and is being built on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. Under this model, the civil structures are in the scope of the Government represented by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, and rolling stock supply, installation and operation are in the scope of a private partner or concessionaire, in this case, Reliance Infra- Caff Joint Venture (JV). The concessionaire is required to manage the line for 30 years and share revenue with Government.



















Construction of viaduct for metro express line using 25 m long precast U girders - An experience

O.P. Singh, S.C. Gupta and Amitabh Khare

The Airport Metro Express Line is the first exclusive line with dedicated check-in counters away from airport at city centre and at city's main railway station. The design speed of this line is 135 kmph with a provision to increase it to 160 kmph. The line starts from New Delhi railway station's Ajmeri Gate to Dwarika sector-21 via Indira Gandhi International Airport. It has six stations namely New Delhi, Shivaji stadium, DhaulaKuan, Delhi Airo city, IGI airport and Dwarika Sector-21 station. This 22.50 km project has 7.185 km elevated corridor and the rest is underground.



















Full span precast pre-tensioned decks: The future of elevated urban metro viaducts

Mangu Singh, Rajan Kataria, Abdelghani Mhedden, Shahid Mohammad and Purnima Bajpai

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is constructing the Airport Metro Express Line as a fast, reliable, modern and integrated connection between Connaught Place and Indira Gandhi International Airport. This project aims to provide relief from increased traffic congestion experienced over the last few years. While most of the line is underground, a part of it, from Vande Matram Road to Palam, runs elevated on a railway viaduct. To meet the completion target of 16-months, full span construction method was used in this project. This has resulted in increased speed of casting and erection of the superstructure, compared to the standard precast segmental construction method used nowadays in other viaducts. This paper describes the technical features of the full span deck. Another innovative solution to further improve the speed of construction, namely precast pier cap at top of pier, is also presented.



















Optimised long spans for urban railways projects

Kumar Keshav, Rajan Kataria, Jean-Charles Vollery, Vaung Chhuo and Abdel Mhedden

Metro projects often face roads and river crossings, buildings and monuments as obstacles in the urban environment. Urban planners expect projects to integrate these into the overall built environment. Also, solutions in dealing with these should minimize impact on urban life, construction schedule and interference with the remaining parts of the project. Extradosed bridges are an attractive solution in certain urban projects. They allow building economical crossings over railway lines and can have 40-120 m spans.



















Construction of INA to Jorbagh upline tunnel - Tunnelling in unfavourable conditions - A case study

Sanjeev Malik, Paras Kumar Agrawal and Umesh Billore

Tunnelling using Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) is a huge investment in itself, but is often adopted for safe and speedy construction. However, when unforeseen and unfavourable conditions are encountered, it becomes important to compare other available tunnelling methods also. In this case a tough rock was encountered in front of the TBM and an analysis of various available alternatives was made to find a solution to progress with tunnelling.