New Delhi: Delhi Metro trains will now operate at a height of 23.6 meters at Dhaula Kuan under phase III, a major engineering feat in its construction history.
The Metro viaduct between South Campus and Delhi Cantonment metro stations of the under-construction 59 km-long Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar corridor, which will cross over the existing alignment of the Airport Express line at Dhaula Kuan, will be constructed without hampering movement of trains on the Airport Line and traffic movement between Ring Road and Sardar Patel Marg.
"The height of the viaduct will be 23.6 meters at this spot, as high as a 7 storey building, and will be the highest point of Delhi Metro so far surpassing Karkarduma where the Metro is 19 meters above the ground," DMRC Executive Director (Corporate Communications) Anuj Dayal said.
The 'launching operation' above the Airport line is done only during non-operating hours between 12.30 am till 4 am to avoid any disruption to the traffic on Airport line.
During this time, no activities for train operations are permitted on that portion of the Airport Express Line. A diversion road has also been constructed so that there is no inconvenience to the commuters.
After getting clearances from Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Department of the Airport line, the launching work is done and all the parts of launcher are earthened before commencing work.
"In order to ensure the safety of the workers and trains and traffic below, DMRC has installed CCTV cameras at various locations on the viaduct of the Airport Line and on the launcher to monitor the overall activities," Dayal said.
A team of six Civil Engineers, two safety experts, Engineers from O&M department and other experts are closely monitoring every movement of the launcher, weighing 350 tons, in the night so as to ensure that process of erecting segments over the existing viaduct and Over Head Electrification (OHE) of the Airport Express line is carried out smoothly without causing any damage to the already operational line, he added.
DMRC's design tram has also prepared the layout of the viaduct after closely studying the requirement of passing over major landmarks such as the Airport Line viaduct and the flyover at such a height.
The distance between the rail levels of this under construction line and existing Airport Express line is 11.90 meters.
The viaduct of the Airport Express Line is at a height of 11.7 meters from the ground level. This under construction viaduct above the Airport express line, Sardar Patel Marg flyover and slip roads is 111 meters long and is supported by four piers of 23.6 meters height.
"This viaduct will be completed by the end of October 2014 as during one block only one segment can be erected," Dayal said.
Apart from Dhaula Kuan, the elevated viaducts of Delhi Metro's Phase III will pass over the existing viaducts of the Phase I and Phase II metro corridors at four more different locations.
At Karkarduma, the construction for viaduct of the Majlis Park–Shiv Vihar corridor is passing over Line 4 (Yamuna Bank to Vaishali).
At Netaji Subhas Place, the viaduct of the Majlis Park – Shiv Vihar corridor will pass over Line 1 (Rithala to Dilshad Garden) at this location.
At Mayur Vihar, the viaduct of the Majlis Park–Shiv Vihar corridor will pass over Line 3 (Dwarka Sector 21 to Noida City Centre) at this location.
At Anand Vihar, the viaduct of the Majlis Park–Shiv Vihar corridor will pass over Line 4 (Yamuna Bank to Vaishali) at this location.
