The solution developed for the US$670m (£441m) Chennai Metro Rail project relied on the strength of a heavy-duty Megashor tower design, which in turn supported a cantilever arrangement. There was a requirement for the system to incorporate an opening to allow rail freight to carry equipment, including the precast slabs for the tunnel sections of the project.
Senthil Murugan from RMD Kwikform said: “With a requirement for the cantilever to reach up to 3.5m either side of the Megashor tower, it was important to exploit the interconnectivity and compatibility of our products. This is why we used steel Superslim soldiers as primary beams and aluminium beams as secondary, with GTX timber beams for the decking.”
The whole structure, which is 7.1m tall, 19.4m wide and 30m long, was designed as a moving gantry so that once the concrete was poured, the whole support structure could be moved to the next pour. This was made possible thanks to the use of specially fabricated housing units and heavy-duty steel castors, which were pulled forward using mechanical winches.
Murugan added: “The scale of this project required a lot of logistical support, with equipment shipped into Chennai port and then transported to site by road at night. By assisting with the planning and layout of the yard we were able to support Gammon with a swift and safe port to project approach.
“Safety was further enhanced by the assignment of a full time site assistant technician, to assist the engineering process in terms of design, and to ensure assembly and erection was completed to our standards.”
Once complete, Chennai Metro Rail will provide alternative public transport to alleviate the high volumes of traffic on the roads, and will be the first metro project in India to integrate other public transportation systems. There are 11 stations in phase one, which is due to be completed by the end of 2015, with phase two already in the planning for 2016.
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