Planning of Kolkata metro railway system

Prasun Roy Chaudhuri (2011MT 0130) Gautam Kumar Jha (2011MT0132) Nandan Kumar (2011MT0134)

Planning of Kolkata metro railways

Historical background
The city was designed by the British and could not cope up with the conditions of modern traffic increase. The streets were getting congested with overflow of cars and personal vehicles causing traffic jams. The city needed a new type of mass transport which could transport the people easily, fast and efficiently. There were different commissions set up to check for the feasibility of sub urban train lines. The ideas included over ground circular railways light tramways and other forms of transportations. There were reports by different commissions to up over-ground circular railways. The circular railway though set up couldnt ease the traffic congestion in the heart of the business district since the circular railways couldnt be constructed too close to Esplanade and Park Street area. The 1st commission to consider the underground metro system was the FRENCH METRO MISSION in 1949. Though the Mission did express some concern about the construction of underground tunnels due to bad soil condition in Kolkata. The French Metro Mission had proposed a two electrified routes from Howrah maidan to Sealdah (3.91miles) and another from Paikpara to Kalighat (7.14 miles). The Mission also proposed the creation of a passenger terminal in heart of the business district. The report proposed that both the route to be electrified and the ultimate capacity of the system be 50,000 passengers per hour. The mission reports was not considered then due to the lack of funding and also during that time the circular railways construction was given preference.

Some of the major world cities with metro railways

Cities

Population (in millions)

Kilometers of rapid transit line

Year of operation

London

7.0

410

1863

Paris

8.5

240

1900

New York

17.2

370

1868

Moscow

8.0

182

1935

Tokyo

24.3

190

1927

Kolkata

9.0

10

1984

As we can see from the above chart most of the modern cities in the world prefer mass transport system in the form of metro railways.

Historical background of Kolkata metro

Kolkata was first Metro Railway system in India and was designed on international standards to ferry people to the business district quickly, efficiently and comfortably all the while keeping the transportation cost low. Idea was conceived in 1949 by Chief Minister. During the French Metro mission the underground rapid transport RTS (Rapid Transport System). But during that time the plans couldnt be materialized due to the lack of funds. Metropolitan Transport Project (MTP) setup in 1969 under Ministry of Railways and this body was given the authority to look over the construction of the metro project. Work of first line sanctioned in 1972. Surveys and construction work started in 197374 and completed in 1995 in 6 parts, first in Oct, 1984. DumDum (Airport) to Tollygunge a distance of 16.4 Km. 15 stations entirely underground was planned while the terminal stations were on the surface. Delay due to availability of funds, u/g utilities, court injunctions, no availability of vital material. There was a lot of opposition to the project since it was a new concept in India and also since a lot of the roads were to be dug up and traffic was to be diverted during the constructional phases.

The proposed route map of the metro

The north south line shown in green is already constructed while the blue line is under construction.

Aspects considered when planning was done

a) b) c) d) e) f) g) Geographical features Climate Drainage and flood levels Seismic data Geological features Traffic conditions Predicted passenger entry

Geographical features
The land is flat and clayey in nature. Clay is not a good soil for tunnel construction since it has high water content and very low strength thus making the construction site and tunnel very prone to collapse and flooding. Most of it alluvial deposits due to the river delta formation. Since the work site is in close proximity to the river this added to the risk of water seepage. The maximum elevation of the land is 9m with average elevation of 6m from sea level. This also meant that the water table was high and the construction had to be shallow such that it did not penetrate the water table and case a disturbance in it. The land mass on the east and western sides are tidal marsh land. Thus the route on the east and west couldnt be constructed underground.

Climate
The climate is tropical. Hot and humid for most of the year. Due to close proximity to the river the humidity of the city is high. There are distinct seasons. There is a hot season followed by the monsoons and a dry cold season. But the cold season is short and the monsoon rains are not uniform sometimes excessive rains causes flooding (in 1984). This caused the site to fill up and construction came to a halt. Some data about the climate of Kolkata Highest ever recorded temperature 43.9C in June,1924

Lowest recorded temperature

6.1C in January, 1962

Highest rainfall in 24 hours

369.6mm (28-9-78)

Highest humidity

100%

Drainage and flood levels

Drainage is a major factor in any underground construction since is prone to flooding. This is a very important factor since during construction there were concerns for site flooding and in some cases the trenches were deeper than the main drains which are supposed to take away the water. So pumps were kept handy to pump the water out to the main sewers. The drainage is done by sewer system which is managed by Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The water from the site was pumped into the main sewers which carried the water to the Bidyadhari river and out to sea. Due to heavy rains and flooding the metro station entry is kept at 500mm above the highest flood point at the location. So that during operation the water doesnt flood into the stations and tunnels from the entry points. Water due to seepage into the tunnels are collected in reservoirs in the tunnel midsections and pumped out by the use of SUMPs. Due to the planning for drainage and flooding the metro system has never been flooded. Even so there are 2 SUMPs provided at each stations to cope up in case of emergency.

Maximum flood level at a few major station sites

Name of the station

Level of crown of road (meters)

Highest flood level (meters)

Tollygunge

+4.98

+5.16

Kalighat

+4.26

+4.36

Rabindra Sadan

+4.17

+4.65

Park Street

+5.10

+5.10

Chandni Chowk

+5.7

+5.7

M G Road

+3.96

+4.64

Syambazar

+5.43

+5.53

Dumdum Jn

Elevated station

Seismic data
India lies in an earthquake belt and many regions are subjected to frequent earthquake thus the seismic monitoring is very important before construction. Although tunnels are considered much safer than surface buildings but earthquake can cause collapse and is dangerous during the construction phase. Kolkata falls in seismic ZONE III with and horizontal seismic coefficient of 0.04 to 0.06. Though Kolkata has minor tremors it is never in the dangerous level.

Geological features
Preliminary soil investigation was done by 50m borehole at 500m. The core got from these was sent to the lab for primary investigation. Detailed investigation was done by sinking 30m borehole at 100m interval. The primary strata were found to be Gangetic alluvium no borehole has been able to penetrate beyond it. The top soil is soft except for the upper layer which is firm and stiffness increases as depth increases. The soil was layered with patches of hard and silt and sandy river deposits. The soil just below the upper layer was of rotten timber and clay. The topmost layer is compact but the sub layers were much less harder but hardness increases with depth. The bedrock is so deep that that till now no excavation has reached it.

The strata can be divided into the following classification

Top stratum (reduced level Approx in meters)

Highest Stratum I Light brown sandy silt Grey or dark silty clay with semi decomposed timber Ground level

Lowest generally at 0.00

Stratum II

+0.25

-11.5

Stratum III

Bluish grey silty clay

-8.0

-17.5

Stratum IV

Brown sandy silt

-13.0

-22.0

Stratum V

Brown or grey clay

-15.0

-35.0

Stratum VI

Brown or light brown silty fine sand

-30.0

-45.0

Strata details
Stratum type Natural moisture content Cohesion C Kg/cm2 Stratum I 30 0.28 0 Angle of friction degree

Stratum II

55

0.28

Stratum III

30

0.56

Stratum IV

26 to 32

0.42

15 to 33 Av 32

Stratum V

22 to 25

1.05

Stratum VI

29 to 30

--

40

Traffic conditions
The major factor for the construction of the metro was to ease the traffic flow in the business districts of Kolkata.

The chart below gives the people inflow via public transport into the business district
Type of transport In bound traffic Outbound traffic

Morning peak hours Tram 48,019

Daily total

Evening peak hours 43,247

Daily total

3,91,230

3,79,661

Bus

36,278

3,44,685

33,247

3,39,986

Total

84,294

7,35,915

76,970

7,19,647

From the above chart we can see that a huge volume of people use the public transport to get to the business district. Since these public transports are all surface based increasing the number of these will also increase in surface congestion.

Few of the causes for deteriorating traffic conditions in Kolkata

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Road area is not adequate to support the amount of traffic we have. Uneven footpath allocation and utilization. Some areas have 6 to 10 feet wide footpath where no people walks. 80% of Kolkata footpath is occupied by hawkers. Our habit - we do not like to walk on footpath. Even where there is no hawker on footpath people prefer to walk on road. 6. All the road sides are used for parking for Taxi, Private cars, School bus etc. 7. Not enough or none at all parking spaces available. 8. People walking on road never want to abide by the signal.

Predicted passengers entry in metro railways after its construction

Stations

Predicted passenger entry per day in 1990

Dum Dum

1, 23,000

Syambazar

1, 43,000

M G Road

1, 02,000

Esplanade

1, 23,000

Park Street

51,000

Kalighat

1, 71,000

Tollygunge

1, 96,000

System and parameter that was considered during construction

The transit system is chosen to be a double rail system and mostly underground as there was no space for over ground space for construction of that magnitude. The construction was cut and covers but was carried out in phases so as to cause minimum disturbance to traffic. The 1st transit line was for Rapid Transport System was to be constructed between DumDum in the north and Tollygunge in the south. This too was constructed in phases. The stations are approximately 1km apart and are located at places of public interest where maximum passengers can be got most efficiently. After the route was fixed the main thing used in the system the coach dimensions other factors like moving dimension and fixed dimensions are calculated. This was used to predict the required clearance for peak hour traffic. Based on these calculations and dimensions the fleet of cars was decided. This helped in calculation of peak hour traffic and gave an average idea of the dimensions of the stations and platforms based on the peak rush hour passengers. In case of Kolkata metro the signaling system of international standard is considered such that trains can be run at close intervals to each other. The frequency of the trains are scaled up or down during peak hours and off peak hours thus increasing passenger carrying efficiency.

The rake size that was chosen for Kolkata metro has the following dimentions
Length over couplers Width Height 20.3 meters 2.74 meters 3.70 meters

Station stop time of the trains

Station stop time is an important factor to be planned. The station stop time should be such that it gives enough time for passengers to de board and get aboard the train while now allowing the train to idle in the platform for too long. The optimum time was predicted to be 30 sec per station while the average speed of the train 35km/hr with a top speed of 80km/hr. A central control room was to be set up to monitor the trains from a central location and control the signaling system. The trains were also provided with public address system so that the next stations can be announced and people can get off more easily and also to announce the closing of the doors.

Features of Kolkata metro

General features
Gauge 1676mm (5-6)

Length Centre to centre of the termini Total length Length of connection to car depot Total including car depot 16.450km 17.185km 0.877km 18.062km

Number of station
Underground stations Elevated Surface 15 1 1

Distance between stations

Average 1.028km Maximum 2.151km (DumDum to Belgachia) Minimum 0.597km (Chandni Chowk to Central)

Expected traffic when full section is opened

Average weekday traffic

1. Year of opening 2. 5 years after opening 3. 12 years after opening 1.32 million 1.53 million 1.73 million

One way peak hour volume

1. Year of opening 2. 5 years of opening 3. 12 years of opening Average trip length 51,000 passengers 60,000 passengers 67,000 passengers 6.80 km

Train frequency during peak hours

1. Year of opening 2. 5 years after opening 3. 12 years after opening 4. Theoretical 24 pairs/hr 28 pairs/hr 31 pairs/hr 40 pairs/hr

Number of trains per day

1. Year of opening 2. 5 years after opening 3. 12 years after opening 311 374 429

Rolling stock and traction

Number of coaches to be procured
1. Year of opening 2. 5 years after opening 3. 12 years after opening 232 264 304

Train composition
1. Driving coach

8 coaches total 163 in length

2 4 2 One class

2. Non driving motor coach 3. Trailer coach

Class of accommodation

Carrying capacity
1. Driving motor coach 2. Non driving coach 3. Trailer coach 4. Total 42 sitting 259 standing 48 sitting 278 standing 48 sitting 278 standing

8 coaches 372 sitting 2186 standing

Coach dimension
1. Length (buffer to buffer) 2. Width (outer to outer) 3. Height (above rail level) 4. Maximum axle load 20.40 m 2.74 m 3.70 m 17.00 tones

Acceleration
1. Maximum 2. Jerk rate 1.1 m/sec2 0.75 m/sec2

Deceleration
1. Service 2. Emergency 1.1 m/sec2 1.3 m/sec2

Speed
1. Maximum 2. Schedule 80 km/hr 30 km/hr 30 sec

Station stop time

Traction system
A. Voltage B. Current collector C. Braking D. Motors Bhel NGEF 93KW 338v 310 A 160KW 675v 265 A 750v DC 3rd rail (return running rail ) electro dynamic and pneumatic

Controls

rheostatic and thyristor/ GTO

Door operation

electro pneumatic

An older metro rake

Picture taken by Railfan Siddhartha Mukherjee

A new AC rake

Picture taken by Railfan Saugata Sengupta at Park Street station

Ventilation system parameters

Main parameters
1. Max temperature (in stations) 2. Max temperature (in tunnels) 3. Max relative humidity (stations) 4. Max relative humidity (tunnels) 5. Max air velocity (stations) 6. Max air velocity (tunnels) 7. Air changes in station 8. Air changes in tunnels 30 C 32.8 C 87% 77% 3m/sec 2.5m/sec 29 times per hour 12 times per hour

The ventilation system is provided both at the platforms and in the tunnel mid sections of the tunnels. The ventilation system is divided and air is blown into the platform from both ends via ducts. There are ducts running below the platform which helps to remove the heat from the traction motors when the train stops at the station. The mid section fans are also used to exhaust the air from the tunnels. Air conditioning units are also provided at each station to keep the station air cool during the hot seasons.

Civil engineering concerns and planning

Method of construction
1. Reinforced concrete box 2. Driven tunnel with C.I or R.C 3. Elevated length 4. Surface trough 5. Total 13.874 km 1.232 km 1.584 km 1.372 km 18.062 km

A box section

Picture taken at Syambazar station showing the box section and the diaphragm wall with the ventilation fan access on the right

A circular tunnel section driven using compressed air method

Starting of the circular bored tunnel section just after Syambazar station towards Belgachia side.

Platforms
Length All platforms are of the same length 170m 1.03m Height above rails

DumDum

2 side platform 5.0m & 7.0m wide

Central

Type and width Park street

One island platform 8.26m and 2 side ones with 4.13m 2 side platform of 5.5 m each

Tollygunge

2 side platform 6.0m wide

Other stations

Island platform 10.26m and 8.26m and 1.03m

Depth of station
Underground station
Depth of station from ground level Maximum at central Minimum at park street 12.854 m 6.920 m

Elevated station
Height above ground 6.975 m

Box tunnel dimensions

Box section
Tangent track Curved track 200m radius Bored tunnel Single track 5.10 m internal dia 5.50 m external dia 8.19 X 4.64 m internal 9.04X4.15 m internal

Horizontal alignment
Minimum radius of curvature In block section In stations 200m 1000m

Gradient abstract
Steepest grade In running line In connection to depot 1 in 50 1 in 25

Longest continuous length of gradient in running line

0.726km

Level line longest length

0.627km

Vertical alignment
Gradient a) Max running line gradient b) Min track gradient between station c) Max track gradient in coach depot d) Min track gradient at station e) Max track gradient at station Vertical curve Min radius of vertical curve 2000m 2% 0.3 4% 0.2% 0.2%

Curve abstract
Ratio of total curve length Tollygunge to Dumdum Dumdum to Tollygunge Average amount of curvature per Km Tollygunge to Dumdum Dumdum to Tollygunge 388 m 384.7m 38.84% 38.47%

Track structure
a) Main tracks are ballast less and consists of 60kg rails with elastic fastenings on concrete bed. b) In the depots the tracks consists of 44.61 kg/m or 90R rails on sleepers resting on ballasts. c) 1 in 10 points and crossings are on wooden sleepers resting in ballast in running lines and 1 in 8 for car depot.

Constructional planning
Most of the underground tunnels were done by using cut and cover method. In cases where the tunnel had to go under a water body like near Syambazar shield tunneling was done. Shield tunneling was also used to tunnel under the Chitpur rail yards where the rail yard couldnt be closed for construction.

Constructional considerations
Traffic Diversions Environment- Washing of rake and Low Noise of Equipments Utilities diversion Safety Independent safety organization of Contractor/GC Barricading & controlled Access of sites Risk analysis before activity starts Exhaustive Instrumentation

Tunnel dimensions
The next step of planning was to predict the tunnel dimensions. The factors that were to be considered while planning tunnel dimensions are the size of cars and moving dimension and maximum permissible speed of the rakes. The dimensions were decided by Indian Rlys Schedule and also from world practices. The tunnels are chosen to allow rakes of 4.64 m in width and on the curved section the rakes have a tolerance up to 5.515m. The overall average internal dimension of the tunnel is 8.190 m X 4.640 m. In case of bored tunnel the diameter is 5.1 m for single track. The platform width is approximately 6m on average with maximum width of 10m and height of 5.20m from the floor.

Cut and cover details

Majority of the tunnel was under main city roads there was a problem and traffic had to be diverted and also utility like gas, power, water and telephones had to be diverted for construction. The majority of the utility was supported by struts and other support above the construction site while work continued underneath them. H-piles where sunk to support the brackets which in turn held up the struts to support the utility lines. Most of the excavation work was done manually and was thus very labor intensive. The gas lines had to be turned off or redirected during the construction and excavation phase. During the cut and cover design the main construction was done by constructing a diaphragm wall and then the excavation took place. The walls were approximately 10 m apart where there were normal parallel tracks and about 19m apart where there were stations. The excavation depth ranged from 12 m to 14 m. The diaphragm wall was held in place by struts of 3 to 5 levels depending on the depth and nature of the soil at the site.

Different types of cut and cover used

Diaphragm walls Sheet piles Sheet piles with timber Open cut 12.687 km 0.365 km 0.684 km 0.937 km

Most of the construction was done with diaphragm wall constructio n

Machinery used to erect one section of wall per day

Batching plants Dumpers Bentonite mixing units Vertical spindle type Bentonite pump (P & H) Tata 320 crane Grab Heavy Form tube 600 mm diameter Tremmie pipes 200 mm diameter with funnel Bailer Chisel Power Winch Tripod Scrapper Mobile Bentonite tank Welding plant Gas cutting unit 1 No 3 No 1 No 2 No 2 No 2 No 2 No 2 No 1 No 1 No 1 No 1 No 1 No 1 No 2 No 1 No

These machines were used in the construction of only one section of the wall per day.

Details of the diaphragm wall

The main excavations for the diaphragm wall was done by use of GRABS mounted on the cranes and were guided by telescopic guides. The length of each panel varied from 3 m to 6 m and the depth varied from 16 m to 23 m. The excavated volume was filled with Bentonite slurry to prevent the collapse of the excavation. Then reinforcement cages were lowered and concrete of grade M-200 was poured into the excavation sealing the bottom of the cage. As the concrete is pumped in more and more the Bentonite is pumped out and is poured back in tanks for recycling and reuse. Some places where there had to openings made for ducts and passenger exits hollow cages were used which used a framework of beam and ducts for exposing the areas to be cut later.

Problems faced in diaphragm wall construction

Excessive cut The walls are constructed with a tolerance limit of 1 to 60 mostly the excavation went smoothly but in area near Bhowanipore (Km 12.50 to Km 13.50) the shapes of the walls are irregular due to the bad soil condition there were internal collapses and sometimes due to over grabbing of soil. Again at Km 13.10 to Km 13.80 due to clayey soil and sand the soil could not hold its shape it collapsed into small pockets. Thus the walls in these locations are irregular and they had to be laboriously chiseled into shape. Jamming of end pipes There were steel cylindrical pipes made of sheet steel. These were to hold the cages in position when there would pouring of concrete. They were to be removed as the concrete settles in. in some case the pipes got jammed and concrete had to be poured in the pipe cores and they were made integral part of the diaphragm walls. Incomplete grabbing to the full length In some areas grabbing to the full length was unsuccessful due to the soil conditions. The grabbing had to be stopped when a compact sand layer was encountered. To overcome the problem jets were used to loosen up the sand but in most cases it was unsuccessful. The diaphragm walls were prematurely terminated and could not achieve full length. Segregation of concrete The concrete poured had heavy segregation and also there were blank pockets in the diaphragm wall. These problems were seen when excavation was being done and then concrete was poured into the blank pockets to seal them up.

Delays, risks and other problems faced by the project

1. Delay in Approval of Detailed Project Report (DPR) 2. Land Acquisition risks 3. Design Risks 4. Technology Selection Risks 5. Approval and Permit Risks 6. Financial and Investment Risks 7. Political Risks 8. Environment Related Risks 9. Geo-technical Risks 10. Major / Minor Accidents during Execution 11. Unforeseen Heavy Rains 12. Force Majeure Risks like Flood, Fire, Earthquake etc. 13. Labor Agitation and Strikes 14. Inflation Risk 15. Delayed Payment from Client 16. Delayed Payment to Subcontractor

Land acquisitions problems

Since the metro was mostly built under the city the land acquisition was not a problem for the main running tracks. The land to be acquired for the construction of depots at Tollygunge and Dumdum was a issue but was sorted out. Land was also needed to be acquired for the construction of the station exits and ventilation shafts.

The land acquired from different agencies and parties

Land in acres

Eastern railways

9.52

Ministry of defense

1.702

CMC & Baranagar municipality

74.81

Govt of Bengal relief and rehabilitation department

18.37

Tollygunge club

21.56

Private parties

178.00

Land acquisitions near DumDum for car shed construction

Nearly 261.00 acres of land was acquired for the construction of the shed near dumdum station. Most of the land belonged to Eastern Railways and was a part of the track embankment. The rest of land belonged to CMC and Baranagar municipality and was used as a dumping ground.

Land acquired for contracts depots

Location

Area

Talla park

6258 sq m

Desbandhu park

2823 sq m

D N Mitra Square

2040 sq m

Southern park

4098 sq m

Damage to surrounding structures and their precautions

Settlement of ground during cut and cover is a common occurrence. It is a common practice to strengthen old building and monuments before the start of the construction. In the Tollygunge Esplanade section there were stray cracks due to soil settlement. In Bhawanipore area where the buildings are of old masonry and shallow foundations there were large cracks. Metro authority was responsible for these repairs.

Soil settlement problems

1. Subsoil profile and properties of soil. 2. Shape and depth of excavation. 3. Type and stiffness of support system. 4. Sequence and method of construction. 5. Time of construction

In Kolkata the major factors were

1. Spacing between the struts (specially 1st & 2nd) 2. Time effect

Preconstruction precautions
Before the excavation was started all inside the chosen zone of influence masonry buildings over 40 years old were surveyed and put under observation. Plumb lines and other monitoring equipment were installed at convenient locations to monitor sinking or leaning of buildings. Whenever they showed any signs of cracks the building was repaired and the soil was grouted.

Station aesthetics
Stations were designed so that they do not look dull and monotonous. The flooring is marble in most stations while the pillars are colorful tiles and designs. Murals were put up at different places to have a lively atmosphere. Historical painting replica and other lightings brighten up the atmosphere in the stations.

Bibliography
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The metro railway working literature Electrical maintenance manual of Kolkata metro Figures and plans of Kolkata metro Pictures of the rakes provided by Railfans Saugata Sengupta and Siddartha Mukherjee Wikipedia.org Kolkata metro railways official web site