FOOT OVER BRIDGE CONNECTING DHAULA KUAN METRO STATION OF THE AIRPORT EXPRESS LINE WITH DURGABAI DESHMUKH SOUTH CAMPUS METRO STATION OF PINK LINE OPENED FOR PASSENGERS

The Foot Over Bridge (FOB) connecting the Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus Metro station of Pink Line and Dhaula Kuan Metro station of the Airport Express Line was opened today for passengers after an inspection by Delhi Metro’s Managing Director, Dr. Mangu Singh in the presence of other senior officials. 

The FOB will connect the platforms of the Durga Bai Deshmukh South Campus Metro station of Pink Line with the concourse level of Dhaula Kuan Airport line Metro Station. The FOB will be a crucial connecting link between the passengers of the Pink Line and the Airport Express Link as many passengers travelling to and from the Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport will be able to take the FOB and interchange trains. 

The FOB is a major technological masterpiece as a record 22 travelators have been installed on it for the convenience of the passengers. There would be very few FOBs in the country with so many state of the art travelators. The 22 travelators (11 X2) have been installed with landing space of about 15 metres in between them. The width of the FOB is about 6.1 metres. 

The FOB has also been semi covered with a curved roof on top and aluminium Louver from the sides with glass railings. It is also equipped with all the safety and security features like CCTV cameras, lighting and PA system etc. The CCTV cameras installed at strategic locations shall be monitored round the clock to ensure the security of the passengers. There will also be space for display panels. Benches have also been provided at some locations where the passengers would be able to take rest. 

Construction Challenges: 

Construction of the FOB was a major engineering challenge due to the presence of multiple 220KV and 33 KV high tension (HT) lines at almost all pier locations. Manual breaking of hard rock around the 220KV HT line to erect piers was also time consuming and required meticulous planning and monitoring.  In addition, water pipelines of the Delhi Jal Board and high pressure lines of GAIL were also present along the alignment and required constant monitoring. 

There was no room for diversion of the utilities and hence mostly the work was done manually in restricted spaces. Since these utilities were encountered at various depths and in varying configurations, the foundation was redesigned at various locations. 

In addition, the location of the FOB along the arterial Ring Road made the construction even more challenging. The Road along the FOB is used for movement to the airport and remains crowded throughout the day. DMRC’s engineers had to carry out bulk of the construction in the night time so that the flow of traffic was not hampered.  The adjacent Ring Road was not blocked even for a few hours during the construction work. 

*Delhi Metro provides interchange facilities between two or more corridors at 25 different locations across the network, thus creating a web of Metro corridors criss-crossing each other. . 

AD/ED(CC)/DMRC 

“This FOB will now connect the Airport Express Line with Pink Line, which will provide convenient connectivity between the Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport and various areas across the national capital. Passengers from all parts of the city such as Mayur Vihar in the east, Ashram, Lajpat Nagar, South Extension, Moti Bagh in the south and Delhi Cantt, Naraina in the west will be able to use the FOB via the Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus station to take the Airport Express Line to reach the airport. Till Now, The Airport Line was only connected with Blue Line at Dwarka Sector 21. 

Passengers from Pink line can go directly from the platforms of Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus station to Dhaula Kuan station of Airport line for smooth transition from Pink Line to Airport line. 

DMRC could not have constructed a station closer to the Dhaula Kuan Metro station because of the extremely complex geographical challenges of the location. The construction of the FOB itself was a major challenge because of the massive road intersection there as well as criss-crossing of the Metro alignments of the Pink Line and the Airport Express Line. Even the Metro viaduct of the Pink had to pass at a height of 23.6 metres at Dhaula Kuan. ” 

Anuj Dayal

Executive Director

Corporate Communications

DMRC

Date:09.02.2019