L&T Commissions Chennai Metro Line-5 EV-03’s 1st Launching Gantry

Larsen & Toubro this week started launching U-girders at Retteri Flyover using a launching gantry (LG) crane for 44.6 km Chennai Metro Line-5’s 10.2 km CMBT – Venugopal Nagar section (Package EV-03).

L&T had started launching U-girders for this package of the 116.1 km Phase 2 project at Shastri Nagar using mobile cranes in March 2023, but a LG crane was needed at this stretch in Retteri due to challenging site conditions where it isn’t possible to deploy mobile cranes between two parallel flyovers.

Per follower Vamsi Krishna who’s working on the project, the twin truss LG crane is 68.67 m long, weighs 235 MT, and is capable of erecting U-girders at a 4% gradient. It consists of two 22.5m long feeding gantries each with lifting capacity of 100 MT.

Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) had awarded L&T with Package CP10-EV-03’s Rs. 1590 crore contract in November 2021 with a 36 month deadline.

The firm had cast their first U-girder at Karanodai Casting Yard (view on Google Maps) in July 2022 from where 682 U-girders will be cast for both viaduct & stations.

L&T’s package consists of 2 disjointed sections on either side of the underground Package UG-06/RT-01 connecting Kolathur – Nathamuni:

1. CMBT to Nathamuni Ramp – 5 stations at CMBT, Kaliamman Koil Street Junction, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Thirumangalam & Anna Nagar Depot
2. Retteri Ramp to Venugopal Nagar – 7 stations at Retteri Junction, Shastri Nagar, MMBT, Velmurugan Nagar, Manjambakkam, Assisi Nagar & Venugopal Nagar (underground)

The line rises here from Retteri Ramp which forms the northern end of 5.8 km underground Package UG-06/RT-01. That package’s construction work, with twin tunnels and 5 underground stations between Kolathur and Nathamuni, was won by Tata Projects Ltd. in June 2023.

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– TMRG