New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) In a first for the country, the box pushing technology is being used on a large scale for constructing an underpass, which is coming up between Bhairon Marg and Ring Road, Delhi’s PWD minister Atishi on Thursday said.
The underpass is being constructed to decongest traffic on the Ring Road and will benefit thousands of commuters moving towards and from Sarai Kale Khan, Akshardham, and Noida every day, she said a statement.
Under the ”box pushing” technology, vertical excavation or largescale digging is not required. Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) boxes are pushed with the help of hydraulic jacks to create a subway tunnel.
On Thursday, Atishi inspected the construction work.
“Construction of this underpass on Ring Road at Pragati Maidan is a magnificent example of modern engineering. Constructing this underpass underneath a busy railway line was a challenging task, but our PWD engineers proved their readiness to tackle every challenge. Such projects prove that despite various challenges on the ground, the Kejriwal Government’s PWD department is determined to make Delhi roads traffic jam free,” she asserted.
Atishi added that after the construction of this underpass, the road between Delhi’s two inter-state bus terminals — Kashmere Gate and Sarai Kale Khan — will be completely signal-free, and the hundreds of thousands of vehicles passing via this route will no longer have to face traffic jams.
In addition, vehicles that currently need to travel towards Sarai Kale Khan, Akshardham, and Noida via the Bhairon Marg route will no longer have to face traffic problems and can directly exit onto the Ring Road.
“The PWD has adopted a very unique engineering model to construct this underpass. For the first time in the country, this engineering technique of box pushing is being used on such a large scale, which shows that our PWD is always ready to face new challenges and come up with unique solutions,” she said.
A part of the underpass is located underneath a very busy railway line where about 120 trains pass daily, she said, adding construction work cannot be done in conjunction with the active railway corridor that is regularly used for trains. The PWD is only able to work here for four to five hours daily, she said.
This includes three to four hours for removing and fixing the railway line, and the remaining time is spent by PWD moving 1400-tonnes concrete blocks underneath the railway line to make the tunnel, the AAP leader added.
The concrete block is moved 30 cm daily by using 6000 horsepower hydraulic machines to prevent the railway line from sinking during the work, she said, adding that after sliding the concrete block, the soil present there is removed. “Only after this, the work of box pushing can start again the next day,” the statement said.
The engineers informed the minister that the technique of box pushing was used earlier as well but this work is being done on such a large scale for the first time in the country, according to the statement. “Another big challenge is that the Yamuna River is very close to the underpass, which makes it difficult to work here. But despite facing these challenges, the engineers at PWD have found the solution to this challenge too,” the statement added. PTI SLB TIR TIR
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