BENGALURU: The underground Langford Metro Station stands out when compared to the 17 other stations that dot the two phases of the Namma Metro. Thanks to the terrain, which is not rocky, a different approach has been taken to construct it. It would reduce construction time by at least three months. The New Indian Express visited the station coming up on 1.5 acres of defence land.
Langford Station, which finds place in the underground corridor, running 13.89 km in the Reach-6 line from Nagawara to Kalena Agrahara, is 75ft below the ground. Chief Engineer, underground, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), Subrahmanya Gudge told The New Indian Express, “We have adopted the top-down approach while building half of the station as the terrain is not rocky. This has been done for many stations in Delhi.”
Regarding the technical aspects, Gudge said the method involves two temporary structures (side walls) on either side for the structure box with excavation done in phases. “Excavation is done and then the top slab is laid. Excavation is done again, and another base slab is laid. The method is much quicker. For other underground stations, the construction is bottom to top with all excavation done at once. Safety- wise,
both the methods rank the same,” he said.
The contract was awarded for civil works for the Langford stretch in December 2019. As of now, 50 per cent of the civil works are done. “The pandemic and delay in permission to cut over 150 trees for the station building deferred the work,” Gudge added.
Assistant Executive Engineer, BMRCL, GA Aravind, said the phase-II underground corridor stretches from Dairy Circle to Vellara Junction. BMRCL Managing Director Anjum Parwez said, “The soil character permitted us to use this method. Reach-6 will be fully in place by December 2024.”