Agra Metro’s 50th U-Girder Launched by Sam India

Sam India Builtwell on Tuesday launched their 50th U-girder for Agra Metro Phase 1 project’s 4 km Taj East Gate – Taj Mahal Ramp elevated corridor on Fatehabad Road.

This number is significant as Sam India has now breached the 25% mark of launching 196 U-girders required for the line’s elevated viaduct which forms a bulk of the 7 km Priority Corridor between Jama Masjid – Taj East Gate. The rest 3 km of it is currently under bidding with UPMRC receiving 7 bids for Package AGCC-02’s underground tunneling work in November.

First section: Taj East Gate to Ramp with the indicative location of enroute stations – view Agra Metro Phase 1 info & route map

Sam India Builtwell was awarded Package AGCC-01’s Rs. 272.95 crore contract by Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) in October 2020 which includes building the line’s elevated viaduct with 3 stations at Fatehabad Road, Basai and Taj East Gate.

Sam started Pier work in February 2021, launched the first pier cap in August 2021, and launched the first 28m U-girder in November 2021.

Few snaps via UPMRCL’s Twitter handle:

By simple back-of-the-envelope calculations, launching should be wrapped up in the summer of 2022. Stay tuned to see if that’s attained!

UPMRC is chasing a tight October 2022 deadline to start trial runs using 3 coach Alstom trains out of PAC Depot with an aim to beat the record they just set for Kanpur Metro where the first elevated section at 8.7 km is more than double the size of Agra’s.

For more updates, check out the Agra Metro section or my Home Page!

– TMRG

written by

Global traveler who prefers mass rapid transit

7 Responses to "Agra Metro’s 50th U-Girder Launched by Sam India"

  1. Abhishek says:

    Do you think these so called “Priority Corridors” of less than even 10 km makes sense to be opened, even for a Tier 2 city. Looks like all these are politicaly motivated. I mean its a great achievement to complete 9 km section in 2 years.. but wouldn’t it be better if a reasonable length of corridor is opened (more than 15 km) in 3 or 4 years which will also be record in construction.

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      Would be nice, but it takes time to raise funds.

      UPMRC started civil work with state funds for priority corridors and worked actively with lenders in the background to secure funding for systems procurement + future extensions’ civil work.

      I like this approach even if it means low ridership in the short term (0 to 3 years) as metros are built for 100+ years. It allows a transport culture to start developing. Other cities have waited for lenders to get onboard for the entire project wasting a lot of critical time along the way.

      My main concern is project size. T3 or even some routes in T2 towns could do with LRT “Metro-lite” instead of heavy-rail. Jaipur and Kochi are good examples. Some of these don’t even have proper bus systems.

      Reply
      • Abhishek says:

        I agree with your point regarding funding. Its good if a project starts construction without external debt, as arranging funds do take time. But still feel that just to start a transport culture, a small section which could be financially unviable should not be opened just because of some political reasons. If a good length of elevated section (considering underground section takes time) of at least more than 10 km is opened, along the right route, it could have more benefits to the public and the metro operator in the long run than a small line.
        I know its easy to say this, and yes, the practical world is diferrent. But I feel what happened to Jaipur metro should not happen again in India, coz jaipur metro was also built without any debt fund, I guess.

        Reply
        • Anurag says:

          Yes bro what u said it is political motivated,no doubt about that.But ‘priority corridor’ concept is more practical , feasible & incouraging too.As am from kanpur & today our metro systm started,let me explain this with our metro systm.U said 9km section in 2yr in place of more than 15km section in 3 or 4yr,it didn’t work with that time line ,in case of kanpur metro upto 9km section was elevated & after that it was underground.So obviously underground section take more time compare to elevated,that’s why priority corridor was there.
          If a section is completed in less time than the loan giver bank( in this case European bank) show interest in project and infuse money without hesitation.Same happen with Agra metro loan get very easily because they can see the progress of kanpur metro.
          Now the last but the most important part selection of the route to b constructed 1st,in case of kanpur I am more than happy to see the best route selected..in 9km priority section
          they connected IIT, KANPUR University,geeta nagar(coaching hub), Medical college & govt hospital ,Moti jheel(Fun zone or picnic spot) where the traffic load is most.Because of the route selection I am very hopeful that kanpur metro will definitely surpass the ridership of Lucknow metro (only priority section comparison).For tier 2 or 3 city people take time to understand the functionality of the modern system,they remain sceptical about the system like darwaja nai khula to ,chutt gai to,how to use escalator ..type.Due to functioning of priority section they became familiar to the system & when whole section became functional ridership just go to the top..

          Reply
  2. Ak says:

    Why doesn’t bmrcl follow same u girder construction method.? Bangalore metro construction speed is awfully slow. Rv road to silk board stretch is not complete even after 4 years

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      Bangalore’s Blue Line (ORR + Airport) will have them.

      Requires 2 things – (1) relatively straight stretches and (2) sufficient space for launch which limits the launch window to night-time / early-morning.

      Reply
      • Ak says:

        But still taking 4-5 years to complete 7km stretch is completely not acceptable. Bmrcl officials are still in typical sarkari job mindset and deadlines have no meaning for them..

        Reply

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