Protective parapets for Metro viaducts on Airport Express line

While till now Metro viaducts were uncovered,the Delhi Metro’s Airport Express line — ferrying passengers from the city to the international airport in 18 minutes — will have specially designed blue polycarbonate sheets on both sides of the viaduct that crosses eight major roads.

The sheets will cover the viaducts — the elevated,concrete structures on which the trains run — starting from the Dhaula Kuan intersection and give it a more aesthetic look. It will be put on both sides of the viaduct like a tunnel. The Metro line crosses eight roads,including the Ring Road,National Highway-8,Ridge Road and Sardar Patel Marg. It is scheduled to carry a heavy volume of traffic towards the Indira Gandhi International Airport and Gurgaon. Apart from adding to the aesthetics,it will keep the Metro out of the view of the traffic below.

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The specially designed sheets will also act as a noise barrier shielding the traffic on the road from the noise of the Metro trains and vice versa.

Trains on the 22.7-km line,connecting Connaught Place with the Delhi airport,will travel at a speed of 135 km/hour and will have six stations — New Delhi,Shivaji Stadium,Dhaula Kuan,Delhi Aerocity,IGI Airport and Dwarka Sector 21.

The line is expected to be open by September this year,a month before the Commonwealth Games. Polycarbonate sheets are being used as parapets for the first time in the country,a Delhi Metro spokesman said.