(Part I: Underground Metro Rail Projects)

Introduction to Enabling Works (Temporary

Structures) in Metro Rail Projects

Metro construction works are spread all over India. Apart from the design of permanent works there are several
enabling/temporary structures required during construction of permanent works. Often these temporary works are
not taught in school/colleges, and since temporary works are not paid for separately to the contractor, there is a
lot of cutting corners and negligence towards such temporary works. Er. Swaroop Maiti and Er. Vivek Abhyankar
discuss the various types of temporary works used in the underground metro construction projects and in elevated
metro projects, and also address queries by both budding and senior engineers.

Introduction
Construction of metro rail projects is in
full speed across India’s urban areas.
Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad,
Ahmedabad, Surat, Kanpur, Nagpur,
Lucknow, Pune, Patna cities are leading
the construction of Metro rail connectivity.
As compared to the railways, the Metro
rail is faster and more flexible, and when
compared to road traffic, it is hinderance
free. Due to the advantages of metro rails
in increasing urbanization, India has made
significant investment in this sector during
the past ten years.
The design and construction of metro works
is highly challenging in city areas where
there is a lot of congestion, underground
utilities, limited working hours, safety
requirements etc. Metro projects are
broadly classified as (a) elevated works (b)
underground works and (c) ramp portions
which connect elevated stretch of metro to
an underground stretch. Each of these has
its own set of requirements and challenges
and involve three main disciplines:
Design, Construction, Operations and
Maintenance. The design discipline has
further sub-disciplines such as (1.1)
Architecture, (1.2) Structural design
(1.2.a – design of permanent works, 1.2.b
– design of temporary structures, 1.2.c –
geotechnical), (1.3) Mechanical – Electrical
– piping / plumbing (MEP), HVAC,
signaling, drainage, lighting, (1.4) building
information models (BIM), (1.5) Fire and
safety, (1.6) CFD analysis, acoustic study
and other higher researches (as per the
requirements in individual projects).
Each of these disciplines have their own set
of requirements / expertise and complexities.
In this paper, the authors have elaborated
mainly on Temporary Structures (also called
enabling works). The paper is divided into
two parts: temporary works in underground
projects (including the ramp portions) and
temporary works in elevated metro projects.
Underground metro projects involve mainly
three types of structures: (a) bored tunnel
tubes (b) station buildings (c) ancillary
buildings and access underpass. The
temporary works required for these are
listed below and described briefly.

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A. Temporary works involved in
construction of diaphragm walls & stations:
a. Guide walls & Stop Ends.
b. Rebar Cage Lifters.
c. Shoring works (in bottom-up type
construction) – steel Walers, supporting
brackets, insert plates and struts (active
/ passive), temporary king posts /
stanchions.
d. Temporary steel decking to facilitate
surface vehicles movements.
e. Box pushing technique for subways (if
applicable).
f. Plunge columns and barrettes (in top-
down method) – this forms an integral
part of the final structure.
g. Temporary bridges for crossing utility
lines / mast supports etc.
B. Temporary works involved for TBM:
a. Temporary thrust frames for Tunnel
Boring Machine (TBM).
b. Steel cradle to support TBM shield.
c. Temporary rails and walkway inside
tunnel lining to support the muck carrying
wagons.
d. Eye seal & temporary slurry piles at
head wall.
e. Intervention Shaft for the TBM.
f. Muck bin, muck removing carts / chariot,
muck bucket tilting device.
g. Temporary Ring support during cutting
of Segment for Cross – Passage
construction.
h. NATM / lining in cross passages
between two tunnel tube lines (upward
and downward lines).
(left) placing rebar and formwork, (middle) poring concrete, (right) completed guide wall
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i. Gantry arrangement for lowering of
TBM, handling of precast Segment,
removal of muck.
j. Crane foundation for lowering of TBM in
Launching Shaft.
C. Temporary works involved for Tunnel
Lining rings / pre-casting:
a. Casting yard & stacking yard sheds with
EOT cranes.
b. Segment casting molds with steam
curing facility.
c. Segment tilting device.
d. EOT Goliath cranes.
e. Steel sheds for office / workshop / testing
labs.
f. Concrete Batching and crushing plants.
Each of the above items are briefly
explained below:
Guide walls: (Fig.1) As the name
suggests, guide walls are temporary
concrete blocks / walls / structures
constructed on either side of the D’wall,
longitudinally, to predefine the footprints
of the proposed diaphragm walls with
some construction tolerance (Thickness of
D-wall +50mm say 50mm) to facilitate the
digging rig to enter the soil inside. Rarely
do contractors construct guide walls using
steel plate units; such walls are reusable
but their sturdiness has to be ensured with
proper design and detailing. The distance
between two opposite face guide-wall
units is maintained (equal to thickness
of proposed wall + tolerance, say 50mm
or so) using temporary wooden props
or tailormade steel frames. Thickness,
depth and reinforcement in the guide-
Figure 1: Guide wall construction
wall, depend on the type of soil strata
(loose / medium / dense / stiff etc.) and
the depth of proposed wall and weight of
rigging equipment. Before commencing the
excavation in soil, surveyor shall ensure
correctness on the coordinates of guide
walls. After installation of D’wall is over,
the guide wall can be broken / dismantled.
For design of guide-walls the long-term
and serviceability checks (like crack-width,
shrinkage, creep etc.) are not applicable
due to short life and temporary nature.
Stop Ends: (Fig.2) Longitudinal ends of
two adjoining D’walls panels are connected
using a grove shaped geometry, which also
supports the water bar; this grove / or even
a projection is facilitated using steel beam
placed on the extreme edges of primary
panels are called as stop ends. In case of
diaphragm walls with greater depths, the
stop ends are even provided with spice
connection to optimize the lifting weight.
The stripping time for stop ends matter
a lot, which ranges from 8hrs to 10hrs;
otherwise, the steel plates of stop ends may
get firmly stuck to the hardened concrete.
Bottom ends of each stop end unit may
be tapered / chamfered. The width of stop
end is kept 5mm lesser than the width of
wall to facilitate easy removal (i.e. say if
the thickness / width of wall is 600mm then
the width of the stop end is kept 595mm or
so). Steel stop ends are reusable; however
now a days sacrificial precast concrete stop
ends are also used in a few projects.
(L) freshly fabricated stop end units, (M)
workers placing water stopper and applying
lubricant / de-bonding agent to exposed
surfaces, (R) chamfered bottom edge of
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 (left) freshly fabricated stop end units
(left & middle) Precast concrete sacrificial stop end (right) Typical spliced connection in stop ends.
stop end (Left & Middle) Precast concrete
sacrificial stop end (Right) Typical spliced
connection in stop ends.
Rebar Cage Lifters: The steel rebar
cages are fabricated in the yard by the
seasoned iron workers under guidance of
experienced foremen / supervisor / shift
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(middle) workers placing water stopper and applying lubricant / de-bonding agent to exposed surfaces
(right) chamfered bottom edge of stop end
Figure 2: Stop Ends for Diaphragm walls
engineer. For long length cage the bars
are connected using laps / couplers. The
final assembled cage is inspected by the
clients (GEC) and after certification lifted
using cranes as shown in the photo of
right hand. To avoid the localized bending
buckling of individual rebars a steel lifter /
spreader beam / strong-back, is given at
the top of the cage to which the wire ropes
are connected at bottom and at top to the
crane hook. Capacity of each lifter beam
shall be properly designed and detailed;
also to be marked with paint on respective
lifter beam/s.
Shoring works (in bottom-up type
construction), steel walers, supporting
brackets, insert plates and struts (active /
passive), temporary king posts / stanchions
(Fig. 3): Steel shoring is required to keep
the D’wall / soldier pile wall in proper
position against the lateral soil load at
the back of the wall. Accidental loads and
additional stresses due to temperature
changes shall be carefully considered
while designing and detailing the struts.
For struts having longer length intermediate
steel column support may be given using
kingpost to avoid sagging under self-
weight and to maintain the effectiveness
of this struts. In some cases, the struts are
applied with a pre-compression using jacks
or wedges – these are called active struts
(else if preload is not applied then called as
passive struts). Struts may be formed from
- rolled joists / built-up truss / or simply steel
liner pipes.
In certain open excavations to facilitate
equipment movements the open struts
may cause hindrance and hence are not
permitted; in such case prestressed soil
anchors are used at certain spacing to hold
the waler beams in position.
In certain cases, the opposite side walls is
located far away (which would lead too long
length of a strut); in such cases inclined
struts inside excavated pit are given (shown
ahead in the photo). At walls bending
90degree inward, the diagonal struts are
preferable. To increase the effectiveness of
struts and to shorten its effective length in
 (left) waler – strut junction, (middle) typical section of trench, (right) junction sketch
(left) diagonal struts at corners, (middle) circular struts, (right) inclined struts
compression buckling check, short inclined
‘splay’ members are often provided. Hollow
circular pipe sections / liners perform better
in large compression and shorter lengths,
than RSJ or built-up sections. Several
software programs are available to plan
and design the strutting and waling system.
Temporary Steel Decking: When
underground construction goes on for any
metro line, the surface operations (mainly
the traffic movements) should go on
without any disturbance; traffic diversion
could be only a temporary solution. To
enable the vehicle movement over trench
area, steel decking is a good option. Such
steel decking is nothing but a small span
temporary steel bridge spanning over
two opposite side diaphragm walls or
temporary beams (as seen on the RHS
photo).
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Figure 3: Guide wall construction
Box pushing for subway: Often in urban
areas, open trench cutting is not possible.
In such cases to enable the public entry
towards the metro station, underground
subways are constructed using box
pushing method.
Plunge columns and barrettes: In
top down method of construction, after
installation of D’wall the ground slab
is constructed before and then after
hardening of it, the excavation is done
below slab; to support the load of this
slab during construction rolled steel
sections called plunge columns are driven
in advance. At the bottom end of these
steel columns a firm concrete plug / shoe
called ‘barrette’ is also driven in advance.
Proper connection between Plunge column
and Barrette / Bored pile considering
construction tolerance need to be checked.
Vertical eccentricity of plunge column in
both directions also need to be checked.
Shear connector with Slab and Plunge
column need to be checked.
TBM thrust frames and Steel cradle: For
the initial few meters of length of boring in
soil, the Tunnel Boring Machine requires
external support with thrust of 10000kN to
14000kN depending on geological condition
(thrust frame and back to generate forward
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 Figure 4: Typical steel Plunged columns

(left & middle) thrust, (right) cradle sledge support

TBM cradle lifting / shifting using hydraulic jacks

Figure 5: TBM Thrust frame and cradle

marching force) and a cradle frame at base

to facilitate leveling and avoid rolling of the
circular shield. Once the TBM machine
moves for about 60m length inside the
soil mass then the friction between soil
and concrete rings is adequate to sustain
/ facilitate forward push to TBM and then
the thrust frames are removed.
Tunnel Eye/Soft Eye: At the starting
location of penetration of TBM through (left & middle) installation of tunnel eye ring, (right) TBD cutter head penetrates though soft eye.
D’wall and at the end point of receiving the Figure 6: Tunnel eye / soft eye
TBM, a steel frame called Tunnel Eye is
installed. Normally, GFRP bar is used for MS U-clamps of each bar. Eye seal is used Temporary Rails & Walkway: Mucking
Tunnel Eye location considering 150mm when the water table is above the TBM. If carts are used to remove the muck
all-round tolerance. All GFRP bars are tied the water table is below the TBM, Tunnel generated by TBM shield. These carts run
with reinforcement by using 8mm dia four Eye seal may not be required. horizontally from the TBM inside tunnel to

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Figure 7: Steel sleepers below temporary rails and walk-way inside tunnel tube under construction
(left) Circular shaft with secant piles, (middle) rectangular shaft with diaphragm walls,
(right) TBD cutter head penetrates though soft eye.
Figure 8: TBM accessing shafts
the nearest vertical shaft / station, where
the muck is lifted vertically to ground. To
run these motorized carts, temporary rails
are required (as shown ahead). During the
tunneling operations. Crossover is required
for crossing the muck car at certain
intervals, but the first crossover shall be
after 100m from the launching shaft.
Temporary slurry piles at head wall:
Slurry wall or Pile of PCC concrete Grade
M10, M15 or M20 are normally used if
water table is high and GFRP bars are not
used. If water table is low, GFRP bars are
used at head wall and if there is no building
around the influence zone of head wall,
then slurry wall / pile may be avoided.
Intervention Shaft for TBM: Generally,
the TBM assembly is lowered / retrieved
from a designated area of UG station
(called launching shaft). In some projects,
the TBM is to be lowered / retrieved / or
accessed (for repair and maintenance
purpose) in between two UG stations.
In such cases, a dedicated vertical
intervention shaft (either in rectangular or
circular shaped in plan) is bored / driven /
sunk using either diaphragm walls / secant
piles or well sinking method. Sometimes
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at open plot. For critical case of intervention
at below building area, face pressure is to
be maintained.
Muck removing carts / chariot, muck
carrying conveyors. muck lifting / tilting
device, muck storage bin: The daily
TBM operation generates loads of soil
muck, which is continuously collected from
the TBM cutter using a screw conveyor
and handed over to muck removing
carts or chariots with the help of short
belt conveyors. Muck carts are usually
battery-operated wagons that run from
TBM assembly towards the station / shaft
area where the EOT unloads them into
dedicated muck storage bins. Later, the
trailers excavate the muck and dispose it
off site to designated remote locations (Fig
9 shows the whole process).
Casting yard & stacking yard sheds with
EOT cranes, segment casting molds with
steam curing facility: As shown in the
photos below, the tunnel ring segments are
cast using inverted curved steel formwork
these shafts are of temporary nature
and subsequently cured using steam curing
and sometimes preplanned permanent
chamber. Then the hardened segments are
structures. This intervention shaft is
lifted from mould using vacuum pads and
required to replace the parts of TBM,
tilted upside down with a mechanical tilting
otherwise cutter head intervention can be
device. All tilted segments in a single ring
done from inside of TBM with atmospheric
are clubbed together and then stacked in
pressure and location of intervention will be
Figure 9: Muck carrying carts and storage bins
7

(Left) Preparing segment ring casting formwork and place Rebar (right) pour concrete
(Left) steam curing (right) vacuum lifting of fresh segment
(left) mechanical tilting of ring (right) stacking segment rings in open yard with Goliath crane
(left) Mock-up ring assembly in yard (right) lowering ring segments inside trench
Figure 10: Various Processes on Precast segment rings
a stacking yard using EOT cranes. Later
as and when site tunneling team requires
rings the full set of segments is sent to site
and lowered in the shaft area suing crane
/ EOT at site.
Steel sheds for office / workshop
/ testing labs, Concrete Batching
and crushing plants: At the casting
yard temporary steel sheds for offices,
workshops, concrete testing laboratory are
required to be set up. Sometimes, these
sheds are made up of brick walls and steel
roofing trusses covered with corrugated
sheets and sometimes directly made
from portable cabins. All the staff cabins,
conference rooms, printers / plotters,
pantry and toilet etc. (all of temporary
nature for three-to-four-year duration) are
provided.
Apart from these temporary structures,
concrete batching plants / aggregate
crushing plants / chilling plants etc. are
also provided in the vicinity area. The
foundations of these temporary structures
have to be properly designed to sustain
permanent and variable loads (like wind
load); however, being temporary in nature,
up to 30% overstress can be permitted in
these structures (however many clients /
proof checkers / GECs insist for a design
that is same for permanent structure, which
leads to wastage of national resources.
One must keep in mind that permanent
structures are designed to sustain for a life
of 100 years whereas temporary structures
are supposed to stay till maximum 5 years,
so some relaxation in terms of stresses
should be permitted as per authors
personal opinion).
References
1) Analysis of stability of rock column
between cut & cover Metro Station and
NATM Tunnels: et. al. International
Journal of Engineering Research and
Applications, www.ijera.com , ISSN:
2248-9622, Vol. 13, Issue 7, July 2023,
pp 214-224
2) Analysis of stability of rock column
between cut & cover Metro Station and
NATM Tunnel : ITA-AITES World Tunnel
Congress 2024, Shenzhen, China, 19-25
April 2024
3) Challenges of TBM Tunnelling in DMRC
Project, Phase – III, CC-04, Page
No – 96 : INDIAN ASSOCIATION OF
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS
4) Chapter.18 contributed by Er. vivek
abhyankar in the book Design of Steel
Structures – by Dr. N. Subramanian
published by Oxform IBH Publishers.
5) ‘Temporary works paves way to
permanent profit’ – paper by Er. Raja
Rajan, published in Ing. IABSE (Vol. 46,
No.1 March 2016).
6) ‘Analysis of cracks in metro segment
using FEM, rectification methods
proposed and associated cost saving,
points to ponder for young designers” –
paper by Er. Vivek Abhyankar published
in Indian Concrete Journal (vol. 92, no. 3
March 2018).

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7) ‘Various hurdles in Design and Construction of Metro-Rail
Projects in India’ – paper by Er. Vivek Abhyankar and Er. Raviteja
Kilaparthi, and Er Rafik Basha - published in B& SE, Vol. 47, No.
2 June 2017.
And various internet websites for the source of information & images.
Note: part-II of the article will discuss temporary works in
elevated metro projects and will be published in the next issue
of NBM&CW.
About the authors :-
*Er. Swarup Maiti – has more than
19 years of experience in the field of
planning, design, execution and technical
coordination of various metro projects like
Kolkata Metro UG projects (India’s first
metro rail project below River), Delhi Metro,
Kanpur and Surat metro. Apart from Indian
projects he has also participated in a few
international metro projects. He holds a
post graduate degree in Project Management from NICMAR and
post graduate degree in Tunnel Engineering from MIT peace
University. He has worked with eminent companies like L&T,
AFCONS, CEC and HCC. Currently he is leading the technical
/ design team with Gulermak India (contact :- smaiti@gulermak.
com.tr)
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** Er. Vivek G. Abhyankar – Founder
of SGAWings Civil Engg Consultants
and Advisor (OPC) Pvt. Ltd.; Fellow
of Institute of Engg (India), Fellow
of IaSTRUCE, Licensed Structural
Engineer (MCGM) and Life member
of various other professional
Institutes (IRC, ISSE, IIBE, ACI, ICI,
ACCE, ISRMTT, INSDAG, ASCE,
NICEE, SEFI). Gold medalist from
University of Mumbai in PG-Structures degree. Possess
over 25 years of rich experience in planning and design,
detailing of various civil engineering structures (roads
/ metros / buildings / temporary works etc.). Apart from
professional works author was also a visiting faculty for
Structural Engineering at VJTI, SPCE and has acquired
vast experience in technical training for site engineers.
He has written more than 30 technical papers on practical
aspects of engineering and contributed 3 chapters in top
rated books and guided more than ten M.Tech, AMIE thesis.
Contributed to various professional initiatives in corporate
sector like E-Learning, Knowledge management, Engineers’
Day, standardization of construction inventory etc. (contact
:- abhy_vivek@hotmail.com)
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