GMRL Places First 160-Tonne U-Girder Near Cyber Park

GURUGRAM: Crews lifted the first 160-tonne U-girder of the Gurugram Metro Expansion Project into place near Cyber Park late on Friday, setting the opening span of the elevated viaduct on which tracks will later be laid.

The precast unit was positioned around midnight between piers P2/26 and P2/27. Hydraulic cranes rated at 400 tonnes and 600 tonnes handled the lift. Haryana Industries and Commerce Minister Rao Narbir Singh was present and performed a puja before the operation. A Gurugram Metro Rail Limited official said girder launching is among the most demanding jobs on an elevated corridor because each unit has to be cast off-site, moved through city roads and seated on the piers to the standards the agency has set for the launch.

Each U-girder on this project is about 28 metres long, 5 metres wide and weighs around 160 tonnes. It carries nearly 16 tonnes of steel and about 60 cubic metres of M-60 grade concrete. The U-shape is used so the base itself becomes the track slab. The side walls work as derailment retainers, a sound barrier and a walkway for maintenance or evacuation. More than 1,600 such girders are planned along the alignment. Two units make one span, and GMRL intends to launch them in pairs at night to cut daytime traffic disruption.

Singh said the first girder opened a new phase of work on the ground. “The government’s objective is to provide modern and improved public transport facilities in Gurugram so that civic amenities expand in tandem with the city’s development,” he said. He added that metro expansion is a priority for the state government and that construction would be pushed while quality and safety standards are held.

A GMRL official put Phase 1 civil works at around 32 per cent and overall project completion a little over 10 per cent. The official said Phase 1 is still aimed at 2028. Tender papers for Phase 2 have been prepared; queries from the chief minister’s office are pending, and the agency hopes the tender can be floated in September.

How the girder sits on the line

The corridor GMRL is building runs 28.5 kilometres from Millennium City Centre to Cyber City, with a 1.85-kilometre spur from Basai village toward the Dwarka Expressway. The main elevated stretch is 26.65 kilometres. Twenty-seven elevated stations and a depot are sanctioned. The Union Cabinet cleared the project in June 2023 at a completion cost of about Rs 5,452 crore. GMRL is a 50:50 joint venture of the Centre and the Haryana government. Cyber Park sits on the approved alignment, which also lists Sector 45, Subhash Chowk, Hero Honda Chowk, Sector 10, Basai, Palam Vihar, Udyog Vihar and Cyber City. Interchange is planned with the Delhi Metro Yellow Line at Millennium City Centre and with Rapid Metro near Cyber City.

GMRL officials attributed earlier slippage in part to the time taken to set up the company. The Cabinet nod came in June 2023; GMRL was incorporated in February 2024, and key leadership posts stayed vacant until February 2025. The Phase 1 civil contract was awarded in August 2025, with work starting in November. Most required government land has been handed over, the official said, while a small forest-related clearance is still expected. First-package civil works are being targeted for the end of 2027 so trial runs can follow.

The minister linked the lift to traffic pressure on the city’s roads and said other construction packages would move as per the work plan. For commuters, the immediate change is a night-time crane operation at Cyber Park and the start of a long sequence of girder launches — two at a time, after dark — along a corridor that has, until now, been mostly piers.