An Industrial Visit to Casting Yard of Noida Metro Rail Corporation was organized by Department of Civil Engineering under the banner of AGI (Association of Geospatial Industries) of Dronacharya Group of Institutions, Greater Noida on 26thAugust 2016. 42 students of Civil Engineering branch with faculty members Mr. Gyanendra Kumar and Mr. Rahul Verma visited the site.

Mr. Virendra, Project Engineer, NMRC welcomed the students and briefed the casting yard of Noida Metro Rail Corporation. Mr. Virendra, especially emphasized on the safety aspect of the project and asked students to follow rules and regulations. He covered all the aspects of civil engineering in a very short period of time.

Students visited the construction site under the guidance of Mr. Rajendra Rai, Senior Engineer, NMRC. Mr. Rai explained the process of stabilizing the soil during the construction of pillars & piers. The loose soil around the pillars is stabilized with cement bags filled with sand. It is necessary while carrying out construction in the basement to support lateral movement of the land or soil around.

Mr. Rai then accompanied students to the casting site where the U – shape support girders were being casted. Pre-stressed technology in the panels was explained to the students. The steel cables were installed and stressed before concreting. The gantry was applied and then pouring of concrete takes place. Generally M55 or M60 was being used in the formation of panels. I – Beam were constructed for the support at the turn and corners. The panels were then transported to different location for transportation with help of heavy lifts.

Students went to Quality Control Lab where samples being taken from the mixer before use and tested for the defined strength. The process of compressive strength testing of the concrete was demonstrated to the students. Mr. Rai stressed upon the concept of project management and scheduling of the project i.e. the cycle time for completion of a particular work. The material should be maintained at an optimum level so that it would not be wasted nor be scanty in demand.

Four cranes are used for pumping the concrete into the site according to the radius of the work and distance of the site from the base. Concrete is pumped into the site with the horizontal and vertical movement of the crane’s belt.

There were 3 batching plants and they are very much in reach of the construction site to reduce the cost of transportation and labour. Batching plant is fed with good quality aggregates, fine aggregates and cement (OPC only). All batching plants are fully automatic and the effectiveness is checked regularly to ensure the quality product.

Students took keen interest in acquiring the knowledge about the process of construction of the Project (NMRC). Students learnt about some new technologies i.e. Pre-tensioning of high tensile wires, erection of panels and casting and transportation of big panels. The theoretical concepts of the students were turned into practical knowledge after visiting the site.

Some Glimpses: