The girders, which are 25 metres long and weigh about 120 tonnes each, are being used to expedite the construction process on the line as the schedule for completion of the project is before the 2010 Commonwealth Games, DNA announced. The use of girders will help the Metro cut its cost by nearly 10 per cent and time by around 20 per cent, a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) official said.

"The cost of construction with the existing 3-meter spans works out to Rs 24 crore per km, while the 25-meter ones cost Rs 19 crore per km. So using the bigger spans will result in a saving of nearly Rs 5 crore per km,'' said a DMRC official.

The Airport Express line of the Delhi Metro is a 22.7 km long stretch of which a distance of seven km is elevated. So far a total of 504 such girders will be used on the
elevated stretch out of which 22 have already been launched.

The trains on the Airport stretch will run at a speed of 135 km, making it the one of the fastest in the country as a trip from the New Delhi station to the Airport will take around 20 minutes to cover over 22 km.

“Civil work is 75-80% complete and four tunnel boring machines will be used on the stretch. The first two will be used at New Delhi railway station and will be launched by the end of July. Work has also started in all the stations,” said DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal to The Hindu.

While civil work is being done by DMRC, the rolling stock, signalling, telecom and track laying work is being done by Reliance Consortium, which includes Reliance Energy and CAF.

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