Greater Noida: The upcoming Noida-Greater Noida Metro link is witnessing the fastest-ever pace of construction in India. In a record time of six months from the date of award of the contract, the first U-girder for the corridor was put in place across two piers at Greater Noida’s Delta station on Friday.
According to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials, this is the fastest ever girder launched from the date of award of the civil contract – June 2015 – in the country. Girders of other Metro corridors, including Faridabad, Cochi and Lucknow, have been launched in 7.5 to 12 months.
Touted to be ready for trial runs by December 2017 and commercial operations by March 2018, DMRC officials now hope they will be able to roll out the Metro service before the scheduled timeline. “We are confident that in view of the fast pace of construction of this line, it should be possible to open this section for the public a few months before the schedule,” Mangu Singh, managing director of DMRC, said.
In fact, the first girder for the Noida-Greater Noida Metro track took less than half an hour to lift into place by two hydraulic cranes. About 30 engineers and supervisors carried out a smooth operation. DMRC plans to put into place another two U-girders in place this month. They will be located at sectors 148 and 71.
After January 15, 2016, lifting of the girders will be continuous from three different locations, officials said.
“U-girders are U-shaped horizontal segments on which the Metro tracks are laid on elevated sections. Generally, the casting of the U-girders takes at least six months. However, it was achieved within four months for the Noida-Greater Noida track facilitating the installation work of the U-girders within such a short time,” said Pramit Garg, the project director of Noida-Greater Noida Metro.
Garg said the erection of U-girder is the last activity as far as civil work is concerned. Activities, including design, survey, geotechnical investigation, setting of casting yard for producing concrete and casting of U-girder and pier cap, pile foundations , pile cap, pier, erection of pier cap, stitching of pier cap, casting of shear key and pedestal, besides bearing fixing, need to be completed preceding the erection of U-girder.
Rama Raman, chairperson of the three development authorities of Gautam Budh Nagar, said, “After Delhi, UP is where the largest Metro network is being put on track. As Noida and Greater Noida urbanise at an unprecedented pace, we want to improve the two city’s transport systems besides pushing them towards being smart cities of the future.”
He added, “We are happy with the progress of the track. We believe the Metro will boost urbanisation, generate employment and provide a surge to economic activity besides reducing pollution and congestion on streets.”
The Noida-Greater Noida Metro project is a 29.9-km-long elevated section, comprising 21 stations. DMRC is executing the project as the project management consultant for the Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC). The contractor for this line is CEC (Taiwan)-SAM(India) Joint Venture.
Interview with Mr Santosh Yadav MD Noida Metro Rail Corp in TOI today
file:///C:/Users/lenovo/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/IE/V76N0121/NMRC-interview.pdf