The Hindu : New Delhi News : Metro tides over trouble

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 02, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Metro tides over trouble

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 1. The Delhi Metro project ran through hard times recently and the progress of the work on the underground Metro Corridor connecting Delhi Main station to Chawri Bazar station appeared in deep trouble as the Rock Tunnel Boring Machine deployed on the section struggled to move even 2 metres per day as against the anticipated advancement of 6 metres per day. But proper framing of the contract terms, some smart thinking by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation officials and the professional attitude of the contractors helped the project tide over the trouble.

"The rocks we encountered under the surface were really tough to deal with. While mostly the rocks were so hard that it was difficult to scrape them, there was also a lot of variation in their composition and at some places the boulders underneath threatened to fall on the Rock TBM and damage it,'' said the Chief Project Manager, Mangu Singh, while explaining the problem.

Though the contractors initially tried to overcome the challenge by making some adjustments to the Rock TBM, it still struggled to move on at the desired pace. Fearing that the slow progress could affect the timely completion of the corridor, the DMRC asked the contractors to go in for modification of the TBM. However, as two months passed in the process, they were forced to think about alternatives as well.

Fortunately, while everything appeared gloomy, the progress of the other two Earth Press Balance Machines gave a ray of hope. Realising that these machines were progressing almost 50 per cent faster than the anticipated speed of 8 metres per day, and therefore just one of them would be able to complete the tunnelling work between Patel Chowk and New Delhi station, DMRC directed one of them be taken off and modified into a Rock TBM and be put to work on the parallel tunnel from Delhi Main station.

Simultaneously, Mr Singh said, the New Austrian Tunnelling Method -- with which the Chawri Bazar station was to be constructed as per the plan -- was also employed from both sides on the two tunnels connecting New Delhi station to the Chawri Bazar station.

The smart moves paid rich dividend and the multi-pronged strategy has now almost covered up for the initial delay.

But, Mr Singh said, all this was made possible by the fact that the terms of the " fixed term contract'' as given in the tender had spelt out to the last detail the manner any crisis would be tackled. As in the entire Delhi Metro project, here too the contractor -- a consortium of five companies headed by Dyckerhoff and Widmann AG of Germany -- had made the design of his section after undertaking the geo-technical investigation and had thereafter quoted the price.

As such, according to the terms, it was also the responsibility of the contractor to ensure timely completion of the project in whichever way possible. Since there was no vagueness in the contract, each party knew its role and responsibility and so there was no misunderstanding despite several technical and cost adjustments being needed to ride roughshod through Delhi's tough interiors.

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