Delhi Metro has drawn up plans to overcome two major engineering challenges on its Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden Corridor, which will cross the crowded Delhi-Mumbai railway line as well as two loops of the busy Modi Mill flyover at Okhla in the city.
The elevated viaduct of the corridor under construction will pass over the Delhi to Mumbai railway tracks as well as the Modi Mill flyover between the Okhla Phase III and Ishwar Nagar Metro stations. These two Metro stations will be located at a distance of about a kilometre from each other.
“For crossing the railway corridor, which consists of five tracks, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is planning to install a steel bridge because it will cause minimal disruption to the railway operations below. This bridge will cross the tracks at a height of about 17 metres. The requisite permissions for starting construction work over the railway lines are expected soon,” said a spokesperson of DMRC.
After crossing the railway tracks, the viaduct will also pass over two loops of the Modi Mill flyover which lead to the two sides of the Mathura Road below (towards Ashram
and towards Badarpur). “Construction work over both these crucial loops will be carried out without causing any disruption to the flow of traffic below. As the alignment of the corridor is passing along the Modi Mill flyover, the area available to the engineers for constructing the viaduct is also very narrow. Despite such space constraints, the Modi Mill flyover has been kept entirely available for traffic,” he added.
While the length of the span crossing over the first loop towards Ashram will be 34 metres, the length of the span over the second loop towards Badarpur will be 37 metres. Segmental launching technology will be used for carrying out construction on this stretch. The viaduct will come up at both the locations at a height of 17 metres.
While work on the construction of the piers near the flyover are almost over, the launching girder to be used for the launching of the segments has is underway. Construction of the viaduct over these two loops of Modi Mill flyover is expected to be completed by end October. The Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden Corridor of Delhi Metro’s Phase 3 is 36.5 km long with 24 stations. Construction work is expected to be finished by the end of 2016.