The L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Ltd is importing high strength “head hardened” rails from Tata Corus in France and has lifted the first lot on to the elevated Metro viaduct in Habsiguda area. These special type “head hardened” rails are being imported by L&TMRHL in view of their minimal maintenance requirement. As Metro trains will be running from early morning till late in the night, hardly a few hours between midnight and early morning will be available for track maintenance. The indigenous ordinary rails used by Indian Railways require regular high intensity maintenance as they face the problem of rail fractures due to rail wear over time.

Unlike the Indian Railway tracks which are laid on ballasted cushion provided by small granite stones, there will be no ballast on the Hyderabad Metro Rail viaduct. Ballast will be spread only in the Metro Depots which are at ground level and the entire track system on the Metro Corridors of 72 KM is ballastless. The “head hardened” rails, each one with a length of 18 metres (about 60 feet) are first welded to form continuous rails with a “mobile flash butt welding plant”. L&TMRHL has imported the mobile flash butt welding plant costing Rs.5 crore from Netherlands and placed it on the elevated Metro viaduct with the help of heavy duty cranes. The so welded parallel rails which form continuous track are straightaway embedded into the concrete plinth and are fixed on special type elastic plates and pads with the help of “Vossloh fasteners”, all imported from Austria.

After the two parallel rails are fixed in their position to the required standard gauge of 1435 mm width and checked for the correctness of gauge, incline etc., concrete is poured to permanently embed the rail track. The cushion which the normal Indian Railway tracks get from ballast is provided by the imported elastic plates and pads. This is a sophisticated technology requiring high levels of precision and accuracy in adjusting the track alignment. All the track parameters are checked by a computerized machine called “Track Master”.

The track system and the track laying method adopted in the HMR project are ultra modern and will enable better riding comfort and minimize the noise levels. Appreciating L&TMRHL and HMR for bringing in the latest rail technologies, Pradeep Kumar hoped that Hyderabad will have a state-of-the-art Metro providing high levels of safety and travel comfort for the Metro passengers. He later held discussions with Mr.NVS Reddy regarding the scope for indigenization and transfer of technology for improving the Railway track standards in India. Chief Bridge Engineer, S.C.Railway Amit Goel and Rail Systems Head, L&TMRHL Anil Saini were also present. INN