Vinobapuri Metro Station – An Encounter with the Rocky Strata

Underground construction in urban areas poses several challenges and the risk increases multi folds in densely populated metro cities. Delhi MRTS Project of construction of Line-7 (Pink Line) Mukundpur-Yamuna Vihar Corridor involves construction of many under-ground stations, among which one of the station is Vinobapuri station, which was constructed on the main Ring Road of Delhi adjacent to the Lajpat Nagar Flyover on the one side and two temples on the other side. The construction of Diaphragm wall around the station ensured that the work could be taken up in these densely populated areas of Delhi where the buildings are in close proximity to the metro station with maximum safety.

The Construction Methodology adopted was top-down Cut and Cover and partial bottom up technique. The partial bottom up technique was used due to the presence of rocky strata between the grid 8-16 of the station. In this zone, to cater the above in design and construction, the layout of the station in the rocky area had been modified by shifting it outwards from both sides by 1metres. Measures were also taken to check the risk assessment of the adjacent buildings and Lajpat Nagar flyover. Also, for the construction of the station, traffic was diverted in the space available beneath the flyover between the two piers and 80 year old gravity duct was diverted beneath the Ring Road. All the utilities in the vicinity of the area were identified and accordingly temporary/permanent diversions were suitable planned. Construction of this project had its share of challenges and each situation was successfully tackled with proper deliberation and planned execution.