Third highest point of Magenta Line finished

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has completed constructing a 50m long, 22.54m high span at the elevated Pitampura station — the third-highest section of the under-construction Magenta Line extension (RK Ashram to Janakpuri West), part of DMRC’s phase four expansion, officials said.

The steel span installed at Pitampura is shaped like a parabola and weighs around 340 MT. Officials said it was installed directly over the operational Red Line (Shaheed Sthal to Rithala) and the busy-intersection of Madhuban Chowk, without disrupting road traffic.

“Limited road width and proximity to residential buildings restricted the assembly and heavy weight crane placement. Complete road blockage would have resulted from attempting to install the steel span as a single unit. Instead, we chose to install it in three separate parts,” said DMRC principal executive director, corporate communications Anuj Dayal.

DMRC said another challenge was to place it across the existing Red Line, for which special cribs had to be created on either end of the elevated track, before eventually using cranes to install the span 1.6 m above the Red Line’s overhead equipment.

“At this location, the Metro phase 4 viaduct crosses both the road and the existing operational Red Line. For safety reasons, the installation process was executed in stages at night, ensuring safety, and preventing objects from falling onto the existing Red Line,” Dayal said.

While the three parts of the steel span were placed overhead for installation over three separate nights, DMRC said the process to create specialised cribs on either side of the tracks, the final installation, and the removal of material took nearly three-and-a-half months.

“The middle portion of the steel span, around 12m long and weighing around 70 MT, was installed first. This was directly over the Red Line track. Thereafter, 19-metre pieces weighing around 127 MT were installed on either side of these, and post-installation, were joined together by bolts and torquing,” Dayal said, adding that the structure has more than 20,000 bolts in total.

The two highest points on the under-construction Magenta Line are both at Haiderpur, where the corridor will touch heights of 28.36m and 27.6 m. Overall, this is the fourth-highest point of the Metro network, with the Airport Express Line reaching a height of 23.6 m at Dhaula Kuan.

DMRC said the new Pitampura station will be an interchange with the existing Pitampura station on the Red Line, and a 180m foot overbridge will be created to facilitate interchange between the two lines. “This will be from the platform area on the Red Line station to the concourse of the new Magenta Line station. Work on this foot overbridge is set to commence,” said a second DMRC official.

The RK Ashram-Janakpuri West corridor will be around 29 km long and consists of 23 new Metro stations, which includes the new Metro platforms that will be built at Janakpuri West and RK Ashram. The expanded line is expected to be completed by mid-2026.