Phase 1 of the Kanpur Metro Project comprised a 9.6 km priority corridor between IIT-Kanpur and Motijheel. Afcons constructed the entire viaduct and nine elevated stations along the corridor in a record time of 22.5 months, making this India’s fastest elevated metro-rail project ever. The team achieved the distinction of erecting 500 U girders in a record time of 312 days while 100 I girders were erected in just 186 days.

Design standardisation was implemented to improve construction operations. Some actions taken to expedite the project include:

• Use of twin pier caps with each pier having a standard diameter. The earlier proposal was to use a single pier with non-standard pier diameter.
• The concept of double T girders on longitudinal beams eliminated the need for a slab between the beams at concourse level.
• Precast double I shape portal girders with precast diaphragm walls were constructed at the casting yard and erected in position all at once instead of regular cast-in-situ portal beams using GSS staging. This saved time and cost while ensuring smooth traffic flow on the congested GT Road.