BIM Academy works out engineering solutions
Tech-savvy Maharashtra Metro Rail Corp Ltd (Maha-Metro) is shopping for the latest tunneling technology for a five-km underground route of a metro being built in Pune city.
The tunnel with six underground stations will be drilled some 30 metres under the Mula-Mutha river bed as part of over 31 km of Pune Metro, construction of which began in January this year, said Maha Metro managing director Brijesh Dixit.
The tunnel will be bored through Deccan Plateau basalt strata, which is hard ground under the river and good for drilling a tunnel without causing much vibration, Dixit told Bentley’s ‘Year in Infrastructure’ 2017 conference held in Singapore 9-12 October 2017.
While assessing tunneling machines from number of options, Dixit continues with pre-planning of the metro in densely populated Pune, one of the fastest growing cities with industries in the country.
Buildings along the metro routes are also being surveyed for structural integrity.
The Rs.11,400 crore Pune metro is to be completed by 2021.
The Ministry of Finance is finalizing the financing for the project, part funding for which will come from the Central and State government as well as the Nagpur Municipal Corp and Nagpur Improvement Trust in the form of equity.
The European Investment Bank is lending Euro600 million and AFD of France Euro200 million for the project which will have 15 stations, nine of which will be elevated and six under-ground over 16.6 km route.
Dixit, a rail industry veteran of more than three decades, is using the latest technologies in metro building in the Maharashtra State, one of the largest industrial development regions in India.
Maha Metro will use the tried and tested technologies on projects as it is designated to build other metros in cities with over two million population in Maharashtra.
Among the technologies and software system applied in metro projects are engineering and designing solutions from Bentley of the United States. Maha Metro’s work is supported by Bentley’s BIM Academy where engineers are working on advancement, construction and reality modelling.
Meanwhile, Dixit said first trial of a 5.5 km route on the Nagpur metro has commenced since the beginning from September 2017 on the Nagpur metro.
Fifty per cent of the 38-km metro has been completed and it is on schedule for completion by deadline of December 2019, he said.
Financing for the Rs.8,600 crore Nagpur metro has been closed, with over 50 per cent funding from international financial institutions KfW of Germany and AFD of France. Work on Nagpur metro began in June 2015. fii-news.com
