Delhi-Meerut RRTS: Anand Vihar station posed engineering challenges; NCRTC waited for 1.5 yrs to get right location

After re-evaluation, the depth of Anand Vihar RRTS station was reduced to nearly 8 m, shifted from 16 m below as planned earlier, the official said, making this change possible in the station design was a complex and challenging task.This station is being constructed by top-down method, that is, construction is first done at the ground level and then progresses to the underground level, the NCRTC said.Four Sudarshan Tunnel Boring Machines is engaged in the construction of tunnels for the corridor near the station.

Engineers building the Anand Vihar station on the Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor had to face numerous challenges and its depth was reduced by half while the concourse level was shifted to ground level to meet the structural constraints, officials said on Friday. Anand Vihar station is the only underground station in the national capital, on the ambitious Delhi-Meerut RRTS.

''We had the option to build it (station) at a nearby place, but we wanted it here, close to the existing transport nodes, and so process of the project got delayed, but we waited for about 1.5 years to get the right location. This project is being executed with a long-term vision, so we waited,'' National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), Managing Director, Vinay Kumar Singh said.

Another senior NCRTC official said getting the right location took time as various agencies, including the Delhi Metro, ''had to be brought into confidence'' aligning with the long-term vision.

The NCRTC is implementing India's first Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) between Delhi and Meerut.

The Anand Vihar RRTS station will be very close to the Anand Vihar stations on Delhi Metro (Blue Line and Pink Line), Indian Railways' Anand Vihar Terminal station and Anand Vihar Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT).

Multi-modal integration being the core principle of the RRTS project, RRTS stations are strategically designed and built as close as possible to the existing modes of public transport to connect them. To make it possible, NCRTC team has to deal with many complexities related to construction and civil engineering.

''The tracks of the 82-km Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor will pass through below the existing Anand Vihar metro station, and in its span will be in between two foundation piers of the metro, and executing this was a major challenge, and the kind of work it required on the engineering front,'' the other senior official said.

He said, generally an underground station is two levels below the ground level, but in this case it is just one level down, and the concourse level has been shifted to the ground level In the preliminary detailed project report, the station was planned to be constructed at about 8 m below the concourse level and 16 m below the rail level. However, in doing so, the existing metro infrastructure was coming in the way of the construction of the RRTS corridor. Also, due to the greater depth of the station, subways and additional lifts, stairs and escalators had to be built to connect it with other transport modes. Moreover, despite such provisions, passengers would have had to walk a lot and climb many stairs to get from one means to another, the NCRTC said. The difficulty would have been even more for the elderly, children, handicapped or passengers travelling with heavy luggage from the railway station or ISBT, it said.

''Therefore, its design was reconsidered. After re-evaluation, the depth of Anand Vihar RRTS station was reduced to nearly 8 m, shifted from 16 m below as planned earlier,'' the official said, making this change possible in the station design was a ''complex and challenging task''.

This station is being constructed by top-down method, that is, construction is first done at the ground level and then progresses to the underground level, the NCRTC said.

Four Sudarshan (Tunnel Boring Machines) is engaged in the construction of tunnels for the corridor near the station. Two of these tunnels are being constructed from Anand Vihar towards New Ashok Nagar for 3 km and from Anand Vihar towards Sahibabad for 2 km, it said.

''Sudarshan 4.1, the first TBM working in the direction of New Ashok Nagar, has completed the construction of about 1.5 km of tunnel. The second TBM, Sudarshan 4.2, has completed the construction of its parallel tunnel for about 1.2 km. Along with this, the third TBM, Sudarshan 4.3, towards Sahibabad has completed about 700 meters of tunnel and the fourth TBM, Sudarshan 4.4, has recently commenced tunnelling for the parallel tunnel. These four TBMs have completed a total of about 4 km of tunnel construction in both directions,'' the NCRC official said.

For the construction of tunnels, about 90-m-long Sudarshan (TBM) is being used. This TBM consists of a cutter head, front shield, middle shield, tail shield, erector, screw conveyor, and many other important parts, he said.

For mitigating pollution at the site, 20 sprinklers and six anti-smog guns have been installed at the Anand Vihar construction site at a certain height. Mobile vehicles for the water sprinkling have also been deployed at the site and their number will be increased in the future, the NCRTC said.

Besides, the NCRTC also conducts mechanised or vacuum sweeping of roads near the construction sites for dust control and the frequency of it has been intensified. Further, taking a proactive measure, it has also constituted a special task force, comprising senior officials of the NCRTC to monitor and supervise the implementation of pollution control measures, it said. PTI KND SRY SRY

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