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BANGALORE METRO RAIL PROJECT

Some Interesting Construction features in Namma Metro
Viaducts and Stations.
Sudhir Chandra B.S.
Director (Project & Planning), BMRCL.

INTRODUCTION
The burgeoning growth of population, vehicular traffic and advent of IT and electronic industries in the

last four decades in Bangalore, reminded the need for a Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) in
Bangalore as far back as in 1983. Several studies were undertaken including a World Bank study in
1988. A Light Rail Transit(LRT) system on Public-Private Partnership (PPP), based on a feasibility
study by IL &FS, after fixing a private partner was also tried; but it failed to takeoff due to a variety of
reasons. The success of opening a few sections in Delhi by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC)
resulted in the award of a contract in 2002 to DMRC to make a DPR for a metro system in Bangalore
consisting of two corridors and costing about Rs.5000 crores. DMRCs report in May 2003
recommended two corridors, one East-West corridor from Byappanahalli to Mysore Road terminal
upto Ring Road junction, 18.10 kms long and another North-South corridor from Yeshwantpur to RV
Road Terminal 14.90kms long a total length of 33 kms at a completion cost of Rs.4989 crores. GoI
approved the project in May 2006 at a completion cost of Rs.6395 crores meeting out the inflation in
the intervening period. Equity participation of both governments, GoI and GoK, was equal at 15%
each. Total share of GoI was 25% and GoK 30% including subordinate debt and the balance 45%
was the senior term debt. Further in 2010, GoI approved extensions of 5.60km on north to
Nagasandra and 3.70kms on South to Yelachenahlli on North-South corridor at a completion cost of
Rs.1763 crores, making the metro net work Phase-1 in Bangalore, 42.30 kms long, at a completion
cost of Rs. 8158 crores. On account of phenomenal increase in prices of cement and steel, building
materials -especially sand-and fuel, the estimate was revised and Govt. of India approved the revised
cost of Rs.11609 crores on 4th October 2011.
(Rs. 1 crore = Rs. 10 millions).
The Phase-2 of Bangalore Metro, 72.10 kms in length, consists of 61 stations( 49 elevated and 12
underground) and the cost of the project is INR 264.05 billion( about 5.0 billion USD) It consists of
four extensions on the N,S,E & W of N-S and E-W corridors of Phase-1 and two new lines 18.8 kms
and 21.2 kms long. Except for a length of 14 kms, rest 58.1 kms is elevated. The Public Investment
Board(PIB) has approved the proposal and the Govt.of India sanction is expected shortly. It is
planned to be completed in 2019.

2. Salient features of the Project:

Gauge
Design speed
Commercial speed

:
:
:

Standard Gauge(1435mm) double line.

80 kmph
34 kmph

Total length of lines

East-West corridor
- 18.10kms
North-South corridor - 24.20kms
Total
- 42.30kms
Elevated corridor
- 33.50kms
Underground corridor - 8.80kms.

Total number of stations

Centre to centre distance of tracks

At grade
1 (Byappanahalli)
Elevated
- 32
Underground
-7
(incl. common Majestic interchange station)
Elevated 4.20m
Underground 15.04m (twin tunnels).

Station platforms:
Elevated
Underground
Sharpest curve (horizontal)

:
:
:

Side platforms, 4m wide generally.

Island platform, 12 to 16m wide.
120m radius in main line in elevated corridor
200m radius in main line in underground corridor
100m radius in depots and yards.
125mm
100mm
1500 m (min)
3.3% (permitted 4%)
about 40%

Modern rolling stock with Stainless steel body and air

conditioned automatic closing doors.

Motored axles
- 67%

Axle load
- 15 tonnes

Class of accommodation - One

Capacity of 3 car unit 975 Capacity of 6 car unit 2005.

Size: 20.80 x 2.88 x 3.80m high.

Maximum cant
Maximum cant deficiency
Vertical curve radius
Steepest gradient
Percentage of curved track
Rolling stock

:
:
:
:
:
:

Maintenance facilities

E-W corridor - Baiyappanahalli depot

corridor
- Peenya depot

Minimum headway

3 mins.

Design Phpdt (peak hour peak direction trips)

40,100

Operating hours

5.00 hrs to 24.00 hrs

Projected ridership

19.7 lakhs by 2021

Financial Internal Rate of Return (FIRR)

5.46%

Economic Internal Rate of Return (EIRR)

24%

Train operations:

N-S

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3.

Construction features in brief:

3.1.

Viaducts

Metro corridors are passing through one of the densest areas in Bangalore City. The roads are
narrow; at times it is hardly 14m wide. Immediately, alongside the road are the utilities (water
supply pipelines, sewers, communication cables, electric cables, etc) buried hardly 600mm
below the ground. There is storm water drain thereafter with a foot-path on top of it. Hugging
on to the footpath are the shops or residences with or without setbacks and compound walls.
When the viaduct pier is located in the centre of the road, the road which is already narrow
becomes narrower still to the extent of the foot print of the pier. Hence in narrow roads, the
lateral dimension of the pier had to be kept to the minimum to affect the road width least. So
design of pier had to be suited accordingly.
Similarly, the superstructure girders were designed to suit the segmental construction with
launching girders (overhead and under slung) single cell, box shaped, deck type to support
both tracks (Up and Down). I girders were used as an exception.
Typical viaduct structure

3.2

Elevated Stations:

Design of elevated stations had to be done depending on the local conditions, road widths, foot
path widths available, etc. Broadly Station structures designed in Bangalore Metro Project can
be classified into two categories:
(i)

Cantilever structure - Tracks, platforms & concourses are on single central pier.

Staircases/Escalators from concourse to platform have been housed in off road

structure. Station entry is also in off road structure. Off road structures provided are
connected through linking bridges to the station structure.

(ii)

Portal structure- It houses entire station including staircases & escalators from

concourse to platform. Only station entry staircases/escalators are on footpath or off

road.

4.

Viaducts Construction details:

4.1

Nature of foundation Open individual footing,Strip footing,Raft,Pile

Open /Raft foundations are seldon used as the availability of rock at shallow depths is rare.
This is also limited to availability of hard strata at depths less than 4 to 5 meters. Beyond this
depth, pile foundations are adopted. The substrata consist of silty sand, sandy silt,
disintegrated rock and hard rock (230 to 300 mpa). For Viaduct, pile foundations, circular piles
of 1200mm dia have been used. The bearing piles capacity is taken as 500t and friction piles
capacity as 300t to 400t the lateral load capacity is taken as 20 to 28t depending on strata &
site constraints and conditions.

OPEN FOUNDATION :

RAFT FOUNDATION :

STRIP FOOTING :

PILE FOUNDATION :

PILES CASTED :

4.2

Sub structure Pier and Pier cap for Viaduct:

The pier width of 1.6m is chosen normal to traffic direction to minimize occupation of the road
foot print and least reduction in the carriageway.
4.2.1

Elliptical Piers:

Circular pier is the best shape for a pier- most efficient cross section. But since Bangalore
metro goes in narrow roads, the lateral dimension of pier should be reduced to have more
carriageway width. So, in the first reach elliptical pier was designed with the minor axis kept
square to the road and major axis parallel to the road. Since the pier is elliptical in shape, the
shuttering for pier becomes cumbersome, costly and time taking. So in other reaches, it was
changed to Double-D shape, shutters for which is comparatively easier to make; Pier cap
shuttering is also not complicated. In the case of elliptical piers the pier cap shuttering is also
very complicated. All piers are having flutes (serrations) with horizontal bands in between.
This helps in easy tearing of bills pasted on piers by miscreants.

Elliptical Piers

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Double D Pier:

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4.2.2

Eccentric/ Inverted L-shaped Piers:

At certain locations, where the piers cannot be placed in the road lanes, as it becomes an
obstruction, the piers are placed in the road median and eccentric piers are constructed, ie, the
box girder centre is eccentric wrt the centre of the pier. However, the maximum eccentricity is
limited to 1900mm.

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4.2.3

Portal Piers:

Where eccentricity goes beyond 1.80m, eccentric piers are not preferred. But a Portal is
constructed with two legs and a beam on top to span the legs, which will support the Box
girder. In such a case, the rail level goes up compared to standard piers/eccentric piers.
4.2.4. Shuttering used for piers in both the above cases(4.2.2 and 4.2.3) are not interchangeable with
the standard circular piers shuttering, whereas the Double D pier shuttering are
interchangeable. Hence, the non-circular pier scores over circular pier in this respect.

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4.3

Superstructure for Viaduct

Single cell, box type, segmental girder has been mostly used on viaducts. They are post
tensioned. Blisters are left in 2nd and 3rd segments for future pristressing, if required.

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4.3.1

The standard viaduct span is 28m. Each segment is 3m long except the pier segments (first
and last which are 1.95m long). The 3m modules when taken out / added in from the standard
span make the spans 25m, 22m and 31m. On sharp curves (120m radius) shorter spans of
22m are used as otherwise there is uplift of bearings in larger spans.

4.3.2

At road junctions or while crossing rail tracks,etc non-standard spans, cast-in-situ, post
tensioned girders are used viz 41m,50m,66m on Bangalore Metro project. The 66m span only
one of its kind is on a 136m radius sharp curve crossing electrified railway tracks, a single cell
box girder, post-tensioned. To prevent uplift of the bearings, vertical prestressing with 96
strands, 7 ply is being done for both the piers. A dummy hole has also been left in each pier,
for future use, if need be.

4.3.3

The viaduct spans are designed as simply supported spans except for those at track cross
over and turnout locations where the slabs are designed as continuously supported over
girders.

4.3.4. Elastomeric bearings have been used for spans upto 31m and POT and PTFE bearings for
longer spans as well as spans carrying track cross-overs and turnouts.

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ELASTOMETRIC ( UPTO 31M SPANS GENERALLY ) :

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POT-PTFE ( FOR SPANS ABOVE 31 M , SHARP CURVES 120M RADIUS ,CROSSOVERS AND TURNOUT
SPANS)

5.

Elevated stations Construction details:

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There are two types of elevated stations in Bangalore Metro Rail.
5.1

Cantilever stations:

There is a central pier carrying the tracks; the concourse and the platforms cantilever out from
this pier. They are spaced 15 to 20m apart. It has limitations in that the cantilever length is
limited as otherwise there will be excessive deflections. Also resonance is to be specially
checked up. But it gives a very sleek and pleasant look. The diversion of utilities is minimized
in this configuration of stations. The concourse girders are I type (precast, pretensioned/post
tensioned) or Pi type (precast RCC). There are pier arms at concourse and platform levels to
support I type or Pi type girders. Platform girders are I type (precast, pretensioned/ post
tensioned, steel) or Pi type (precast RCC).
Track girders are I type posttensioned girders (4 nos) or U type pretensioned girders (3 nos).
U type girders are not suitable in the spans where the d.c. electric traction cables have to be
brought from the track level to the Traction substation in the station building at concourse level
as there is no space between the girders to puncture hole/slit through the deck slab. Hence,
in such spans, I-girders have been used as there is enough space available between the top
flanges of the adjacent girders for hole/slit to be made through the deck slab. They rest on
elastomeric bearings.
Roofing is supported on steel trusses. Galvalume sheeting of different colors with
polycarbonate sheets interspersed for adequate lighting is used. Sides of the platform to the
extent possible are kept open for good ventilation.
Station entry to concourse is provided in off road structures.

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REACH - 2 (ALL SIX STATIONS): CANTILEVER STATION (EXAMPLE MAGADI ROAD).

SUPER STRUCTURE FOR TRACK SUPPORT : I GIRDER (POST-TENSIONED)

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PLATFORM LEVEL AND CONCOURSE LEVEL PIER ARM DETAIL :

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SUPERSTRUCTURE CONCOURSE SUPPORT : Pi - GIRDER (PRE-CAST RCC)

(SUPERSTRUCTURE PLATFORM SUPPORT : Pi GIRDER (PRE-CAST RCC)

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PLATFORM
SUPPORT
TT-GIRDERS
PIER ARMS WITH LBEAMS SUPPORT THE
CONCOURSE
GIRDERS AND
PLATFORM GIRDERS

CONCOURSE
SUPPORT
TT-GIRDERS

DOUBLE DCOLUMNS

ROOF STRUCTURE STEEL FRAME WITH GALVALUME SHEETING.

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5.2 Portal structure stations:

Station structure consists of portals, generally three-legged, to span the road widths. The
other members and components remain more or less the same. Such structures have
been adopted in reaches R-1, 3b and 4a. The merit of this structure is that it is more stable
and the internal stair cases & escalators are within the main structure. With such a
configuration, the land acquisition is minimum at the sides.

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SUPER STRUCTURE FOR TRACK SUPPORT: I GIRDER (POST-TENSIONED)

SUPERSTRUCTURE PLATFORM SUPPORT: I GIRDER (PRE-TENSIONED)

SUPERSTRUCTURE CONCOURSE SUPPORT : I - GIRDER (PRE-TENSIONED)

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CONCOURSE SUPPORT I6. Some unique design of Viaduct and Stations.

6.1

Special Curved span 66m flyover over Electrified Railway tracks (Cast-in-situ):

The Northern line of Bangalore Metro from Peenya to Sampige Road station flies over the
SWR Tumkur electrified main lines at Malleshwaram (Kuvempu Road). It is a skew crossing
with curvature of 136 mtrs radius. The span across the railway land is 66mtrs. It consists of a
single cell box girder, post tensioned. Due to the sharp curvature and long span, the outer
bearings are subject to uplift; replacement of bearings often over running tracks will be
difficult. To prevent uplift of the bearings, vertical prestressing was thought of in the beginning,
but was given up considering the durability, the need to have spare arrangements for
prestressing during service, if the need arises, as very limited periods will be available for
repairs, retrofitting, etc once the commercial operations are commenced.

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Salient Features:

OVERALL SPAN (C/C OF EXP JT)

66M

RADIUS AT CENTRELINE OF ALIGNMENT

136M

DEPTH OF THE BOX GIRDER

4.0 M

WIDTH OF THE BOX GIRDER AT TOP

8.8 M

WIDTH OF THE BOX GIRDER AT BOTTOM

3.6 M

TYPE OF BEARING PROPOSED

:POT-CUM-PTFE

MAX. NO OF AXLES ON THE SPANS

13 AXLES / TRACK (OF 15 TONS)

TOTAL NO OF PRESTRESSING CABLES (LONG.)

24 NOS OF 19 T 15

TOTAL NO OF VERTICAL PRESTRESS STRANDS

95 NOS OF 15 DIA

HEIGHT FROM RAIL LEVEL TO PILE CAP TOP

:13.7M (MAX)

OVERALL HEIGHT OF PIER

PIER SIZE

PIER CAP SIZE AT TOP

4.9M X 4.5M

THICKNESS OF PIER CAP

0.6 M ST + 0.9M VARYING

NO. OF PILES

8 & 9NOS RESPECTIVELY.

8.82M (MAX)
4M X 2.5 M

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6.2

Deepanjalinagar Station:

Deepanjalinagar station is the penultimate station on the Magadi Road-Mysore Road stretch of
E-W Corridor. The station is sandwiched between the ROB across the Mysore Bangalore SWR
lines and the National Highway to Mysore. The topography on either side of the station is
undulating and the formation is in deep cutting. It is also surrounded by three built up areas
and an important temple just at the edge of the station which have to be saved and these
constraints make entire station (three legged portal structure) an indeterminate structure with
unequal spans. The portals have also unequal legs.

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6.3 Some special features at stations:

6.3.1

Foundations: Mono Piles:

At times the extreme rows of columns go very near to the property line making construction of
multipiles and pile cap construction impossible. Mono piles of higher diameter 1600mm have
been used (normal piles are 1200mm diameter)

MONOPILES (1600MM

6.3.2

Floating columns:

Due to space constraints and shifting of utilities (sewer lines especially) not
becoming feasible, floating column concept has also been adopted.

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FLOATING
COLUMN
6.3.3

Replacement of girders/bearings during maintenance:

Generally elastomeric bearings are provided for all standard spans and at stations. POT and
PTFE bearings are provided for special spans greater than 31m and cross over spans. The
bearings have life of 20-25 years. Bearings have to be replaced in viaduct by lifting girders by
taking temporary block for train movement. In case of station, replacement of bearings will be
required only on the track girder where trains are moving. This can be replaced by opening the
rail fastening system and connection to the bearings and refitted after replacement of the
bearings. Other bearings of the stations at concourse are not subjected to heavy load thus
unlikely to be replaced.
6.3.4 Transition spans:
In the station lengths the track supporting structure is either I-girders or U-girders whereas the
viaduct in the approaches of the station consists of segmental box girders. Hence the first pier,
just after the station ends, is a transition pier on which from one side I or U girders of station
rest and on the other side the segmental box girder rests. As the depths of girders vary, the
bearings are at different levels and the pier cap has to be meticulously designed to take care of
the extra moments due to the couple action. These transition spans are kept normally not
more than 20m in length.

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6.3.5

Electrostatic insulating membrane:

As the mode of traction is 750 v dc, to prevent electrocution of passengers while alighting or
boarding the train (one hand being held against the coach and the foot being on the platform)
special electrostatic membranes are placed below the floor finish for a width of about 4 meters,
which acts as an insulating medium.
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Stray current protection:

A special feature of this metro is that since 750V dc third rail system is used, there is the
problem of stray current corrosion which doesnt arise in other metro systems where AC
traction is used. We have to guard against it. Special measures have been adopted to
minimize the corrosion of neighboring utilities, of steel members, rebar of metro structures
which will otherwise weaken the structure and reduce its life. This has been done by inter
connecting rebars from the track level to the foundation bottom level of piers, columns, etc so
that they get earthed.
MAHATMA GANDHI ROAD STATION:

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SWAMI VIVEKANAND ROAD STATION:

BYAPPANAHALLI STATION:

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YESHWANTHPUR STATION:

VIJAYANAGAR STATION:

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NATIONAL COLLEGE STATION

Conclusions:

Stations have been designed passenger -friendly, persons with disabilities- friendly (lifts and
tactile provision), etc. Bangaloreans, being especially aesthetic loving and connoisseurs, the
stations have been architecturally designed to give a pleasing look in the Bangalore sky line.

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