The metro train services have been under suspension since March 22. (Representational)
The Delhi Metro has reached a major milestone in the Phase-4 work as it cast its first pier on the under-construction Janakpuri West-R K Ashram Marg corridor, officials said on Sunday.
The pier was cast at Keshopur on the elevated stretch between Keshopur and Mukarba Chowk on Saturday night.
"The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation took another important step forward in its Phase 4 construction work as the first pier of this phase of Metro expansion was cast on the Janakpuri West-R K Ashram Marg Metro corridor," the DMRC said in a statement.
This "major construction milestone" has been achieved, despite severe shortage of manpower and other logistical challenges because of the pandemic, officials said.
The average height of piers on this corridor is 10m. However, piers will be 20m high at Madhuban Chowk (crossing with Line 1) and 25m at Haiderpur Badli Mor where this line will cross Line 2.
At Haiderpur Badli Mor, the viaduct level is going to be at 28m, the highest in the history of Delhi Metro, the statement said.
Presently, the highest point is at Dhaula Kuan, where the Line 7 viaduct passes at a height of 23.6m.
Piers, in terms of civil engineering are vertical loadbearing structures which act as intermediate support for adjacent ends of two spans.
They form the vertical support structures on which the elevated metro viaducts stand. Metro piers today dot innumerable road medians in Delhi through which elevated Metro corridors run. Pier numbers are now important landmarks for addresses across the Delhi-NCR.
The 28.92-km-long Janakpuri West-R K Ahsram Marg corridor is an extension of Magenta Line and will come up with 22 stations. While 21.18 km of this corridor will be elevated, 7.74 km will be underground. Construction work on this particular section had started in December last year.
On July 17, the work on the underground section of this corridor was commenced with the beginning of D Wall construction work at the Krishna Park Extension Metro station. On 24th June, DMRC had started the casting work of u-girders which would be installed on the elevated section of this corridor.
Under Phase-4, 61.679 km of new metro lines shall be constructed across three different corridors comprising 45 metro stations. These new sections shall provide interconnectivity among the already operational sections of Delhi Metro. Out of this, 22.35 km will be underground while rest will be elevated.