Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Tuesday erected the last girder of the Noida-Greater Noida Aqua line. With the elevation of this girder, the viaduct of this nearly 30km-long corridor has been completed in a record 22 months.
The last U-girder was launched between Sector 143 and Sector 144 Metro stations of the corridor along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway in the presence of Mangu Singh, MD, DMRC; Alok Tandon, MD, Noida Metro Rail Corporation and chairperson and CEO of Noida Authority.
According to Singh, over 50% of the track has been put into place and 90% of electrical masts have been erected with about 1,250 electrical poles in place of the total 1,400. The DMRC chief said, “About 35 km stretch of rail track of the total 60 km has been laid until now. Structural work of all 21 stations along the corridor including platforms have been completed in a record time of 20 months. All stations along the corridor are likely to be ready by March 2018. Finishing of all Metro stations is underway.”
Singh further told that with the first set of trains having left China last week, trials are likely to take off sometime towards the last week of December. “The first train is expected to arrive at the Greater Noida Depot by mid – December, following which we will start trials. The trains are undergoing vigorous quality control measures by a German company to ensure the safety of commuters. The Metro is likely to roll by April 2018. However, this is dependent on the trials and railway safety commissioner’s go ahead thereafter,” he added.
According to DMRC, civil work on the corridor began in May 2015 and the first girder was launched in December 2015. “Today we have completed the civil work within 22 months,” Singh said during the uploading of the girder. “A total of 2,830 girders (2035 U- girders and 795 I – girders) have been erected along the viaduct. We have installed 100 girders per month along the corridor,” he said.
In May 2016, DMRC successfully executed the task of erecting 200 U-Girders on the Noida-Greater Noida corridor in one month.
This is the maximum number of U-girders ever launched in any Metro corridor in India within a month. On March 2 this year, DMRC entered the Limca book of records for this feat.
The last girder for the Noida-Greater Noida track took less than half an hour to lift into place by two hydraulic cranes of capacity 350 tonnes, each. About 30 engineers and supervisors carried out a smooth operation. “The main challenge of girders is precision in casting as well as launching which required specialised cranes,” said Singh. “However, specialised trailers were mobilised for transporting these girders. All the girders were pre-fabricated at two casting yards located in Noida’s Sector 149 and Depot Station in Greater Noida, and each weighed more than 150 tonnes,” he added.