Metro Rail to hit tracks on June 1

The Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) project is inching closer to organise trial runs on its first phase, on June 1. The metro coach designed in Korea would be transported to the city in the next week. After the initial trial runs in the depot, the coach would hit the rails on the designated routes. The works are almost winding up in the Nagole-Mettuguda route. 27 stations are being constructed in the Miyapur-LB Nagar route. Here are some of the highlights of the construction for this massive project.

The pillar construction

The entire construction process is being carried out in the ‘pre-casting’ method where the parts are constructed somewhere else and transported to the site. The construction of pillars is crucial to the entire building process. Barricades have been laid on either sides of the construction site.

Three routes- six phases

The project is being constructed in three routes, the first being the Miyapur-L B Nagar corridor, while the other two are JBS-Falaknuma and Nagole-Shilparamam. The construction on the three routes has been further divided into six phases

Phase 1- Nagole-Mettuguda:

Stretching over a length of 8.1 kilometres, the construction of 305 pillars and viaducts in this route is complete. The construction of tracks on the bridges are also complete. The route has a station every kilometre. While the construction of stations in Nagole and Uppal is almost complete, the construction is currently being carried out in Survey of India, NGRI, Habsiguda, Tarnaka and Mettuguda. This route will be totally functional from Ugadi 2015.

Phase 2- Miyapur-SR Nagar

This phase would be stretching across a length of 11.90 kilometres, with 10 halts. Out of 456 pillars to be constructed in the route, 413 pillars have been laid so far. The stations in this route are Miyapur, KPHB, Kukatpally, Bala Nagar, Bharat Nagar, Erragadda, ESI, SR Nagar and Musapet. 90 per cent of the construction in this route is complete. This route will be functional from August 2015.

Phase 3- Mettuguda-Begumpet

Streching over a length of 10 kilometres, construction of all the 306 pillars on the route has been completed. However the date of completion of the project is marred by controversies due to problems of land acquisition along the route. Currently, land acquisition is a challenge at ISKCON temple, Lifestyle Building and Country Club.

Phase 4- Begumpet-Shilparamam

Stretching over a length of 11.03 kilometres, the route would have 430 pillars out of which 79 has been constructed. There would be 10 stations on this route.

Phase 5 - SR Nagar-LB Nagar

Stretching over a length of 17.31 kilometres, the route would have 653 pillars. The route would have 17 stations. The construction of Assembly, Khairtabad, Panjagutta, MGBS and Maitrivanam stations has already begun.

Phase 6- JBS- Falaknuma

The 15.19 kilometre long route would have 588 pillars of which only 19 pillars have been constructed. The road-widening works are almost complete on this route. The route would have 16 stations. However the traders at Sultan Bazar have still not agreed to allow the Metro Rail to begin construction in the area due to the fear of facing business losses.

Parking area

“Parking facilities are being developed near all the stations. Each station will have two acres of parking space on an average. We are acquiring private properties where there is no government land. If a station has limited parking space, we will have mechanised parking facility. We have already identified parking space for 20 stations. If the parking facility is far from the stations, we will arrange feeder buses to transit passengers to the stations. All these options are being explored,” said NVS Reddy, managing director, HMR.

Feeder buses to colonies

The HMR authorities would be facilitating a few colonies with feeder buses along the Nagole-Mettuguda stretch for the people to reach nearby stations. There are numerous residential colonies along the route. There are 25 colonies around the Nagole station, eight colonies around Uppal station, 13 colonies near Survey of India, 27 near Habsiguda, 22 near Tarnaka and 19 colonies near Mettuguda stations. The Metro Rail project would be pollution free and a cost effective mode of transport for the citizens of all these colonies.

Simultaneously at all the junctions:

There are 12 such junctions in corridor 1, 7 in corridor 2 and 9 in corridor 3. In order to facilitate free flow of traffic in these junctions, the gap between two pillars has been extended. Normally there is a gap of 112 feet between two pillars but a gap of 190 feet has to be maintained between the pillars near the junctions. This is a challenge for the engineers. Also instead of using a pre-casting method for construction, the engineers are adopting spot construction techniques in these areas. Bridges were constructed in the same way in Uppal and Habsiguda. The on the spot construction would require a time period of four months while the pre-casting method takes only about 4 days time.

Mishaps:

In the construction work of the Metro Rail, 4 people had lost their lives at different sites.