A Guest Lecture on ‘Challenges in Metro rail Construction’ was organized by the Department of Civil Engineering, on 7th December, 2022, in Seminar Hall 4.96 Students and 13 Faculty members from the Civil Engineering Department participated in this event.
Metro rail systems are an excellent infrastructure for the growth and development of large cities and their residents. While the metro rail systems have come to define a city’s growth and development, the planning and construction phase is associated with many challenges.
The Guest Lecture started with the arrival of the dignitaries on the dais. The dignitaries present were Mr. G. C. Shivakumar (Chief Engineer, Planning and Design, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited), Dr. P. Mahabaleswarappa (Principal, MVJCE), Dr. N. Vetrivel (Head of Civil Engineering Department, MVJCE) and Prof. Muralidhara R (Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, MVJCE). The Master of Ceremony was Ms. Likitha (7th semester student, Civil Engineering, MVJCE). Dr. P Mahabaleswarappa delivered the welcome address, welcoming the Chief Guest and the participants. Prof. Nisha M (Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering) introduced the Guest Speaker.
Mr. G. C. Shivakumar then took over the session. He started by giving an overview of the various phases of the Bangalore Metro, with detailed diagrams. He illustrated the construction of metro rail, with an interesting video. The various challenges encountered in metro projects during planning, coordination with various agencies and clearances from statutory bodies were explained in detail. In some sites, the challenge encountered while tunnelling with tunnel boring machines is the garbage. Other challenges like utility shifting, tree cutting, land acquisition, tendering process, interdisciplinary coordination and design changes and construction were explained in detail. Mr. G. C. Shivakumar also spoke about the new concept of tree relocation that is being adopted in some metro projects.
The students participated actively in the session. Sachin, Apple Lennon, Faizan and Vivek (5th semester students) and Manoj and Poorvi (7th semester students) raised questions regarding sustainability techniques, planning and monitoring software used in the projects, and job opportunities in BMRCL. The Speaker addressed these questions and cleared the doubts of the students. He enlightened the students about the various green concepts that are adopted in metro rail construction, and about BIM, STAAD PRO and other software used in various projects.
At the end of the session, the vote of thanks was proposed by Dr. Vetrivel N, extending gratitude to the esteemed Speaker for his presence and an excellent session, to the Management of MVJCE for providing an opportunity to organize such events, to the Principal Dr. P. Mahabaleswarappa and Vice Principal Dr. M. Brindha for their constant support and encouragement, to the faculty of Civil Engineering Department and all the Civil Engineering students for their participation. He also thanked the IT helpdesk, non-teaching staff and technicians for their help and support. Prof. Muralidhara presented a sapling to the Speaker as a token of gratitude.
Outcome of the Event
The students can now understand and identify the challenges in metro rail construction (PO12) and can come up with suitable measures to handle the problems encountered during construction of metro rail or similar large scale projects (PO9 and PO11).