Delhi Metro wins Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award from Japan Society of Civil Engineers

The Delhi Metro’s Phase 1, 2 and 3 projects have been awarded with the prestigious Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE)’s ‘Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award’ for the year 2020. The JSCE termed the Delhi Metro’s project as ‘High-Quality Infrastructure Development Project’.

  • The JSCE in its award note mentioned that the Delhi Metro’s projects have brought awareness of safety and efficiency at construction sites in India and provided residents with safe, secure and comfortable transportation.
  • This award is given to highly selective showcasing projects in the development of civil engineering technology across the world.
  • The Delhi Metro’s civil engineering achievements in the past two decades have received global recognition and have been appreciated by prominent international organizations.
  • Earlier, the Delhi Metro’s implementation of Phase – 1 was rated ‘Excellent’ in a post evaluation study conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
  • The study rated Delhi Metro’s project execution capability at ‘3’, which is the highest possible grade indicating that the performance of DMRC was excellent.
  • The Delhi Metro since its inception has been closely associated with Japan.
  • The JICA has supported Delhi Metro’s all Phases including the ongoing Phase – 4 project by providing not only smoothest financial support but with excellent value-added activities such as knowledge assistance by introducing Japanese innovative technologies and mind-set of safety and innovation, unique work culture, technical cooperation and capacity building of DMRC.
  • The unstinted support from Japan JICA including India Office has helped Delhi Metro in becoming a Shining Example globally in the field of urban mass transit.

Recent Update:

To expedite work on the Trilokpuri section of Pink Line, the Delhi Metro adopted a unique construction method by using steel girders instead of the conventional concrete ones.

  • Construction of concrete girders would have required the establishment of a casting yard and it would not have been feasible to set up a casting yard for such a small stretch within a short duration of time.
  • Therefore, steel girders were installed on this stretch.
  • A total of 40 steel girders have been placed on 10 spans for the 290 metre-long section.
  • These steel girders have been fabricated and brought from a workshop at Ambala in Haryana.
  • This has not only saved time but also there was no need to create a separate casting yard for the concrete casting of the girders.
  • The length of these girders varies from 16 to 38 metres.
  • The height of the viaduct stands at about 8 to 9.5 metres.
  • A curved span of radius 200 metres is also a part of this stretch.
  • Earlier, for the construction of the Chattarpur Metro station also, DMRC had adopted a similar method of using steel structures because the construction of that station was also delayed due to land acquisition issues.
  • The work on installing these steel girders and casting of deck slab was completed in April just before the second surge of the Covid pandemic.
  • This was a significant achievement because the civil construction on this stretch was started in early 2020 and was repeatedly hampered by the pandemic induced lockdowns and issues such as non-availability of workforce.

Current Status:

  • Now, track laying and other ancillary works have commenced on this stretch between Mayur Vihar Pocket – 1 and Trilokpuri Sanjay Lake following the completion of civil work.
  • In addition, Overhead Electrification work is also under progress.
  • The track laying work is expected to be completed by the end of June.
  • Preliminary trials are expected to start thereafter.
  • All efforts are being made to further expedite the progress of work on this particular stretch.
  • The section shall be operational immediately after receiving the mandatory clearances from all concerned authorities.

Connectivity:

  • Once completed, this section will connect the two ends of Pink Line and will provide seamless connectivity to a long range of localities in the National Capital Region.
  • Important transport hubs such as Nizamuddin Railway Station, Sarai Kale Khan ISBT, Anand Vihar Railway Station, Anand Vihar ISBT, Delhi Cantt. Railway Station, and prominent markets like Dilli Haat – INA, Sarojini Nagar and Lajpat Nagar will get direct connectivity through this corridor.

Longest single Metro corridor:

  • This corridor will further be extended from Majlis Park to Maujpur in Phase – IV, making it the longest single Metro corridor in India at approximately 70 kilometers.
  • After completion of the Phase – IV, the Pink Line will also become the only Ring Corridor of Metro in the country.

Source: DMRC-Press Release | Image Credit: DMRC