AIIMS to trauma center in just 3 minutes

NEW DELHI: In what could turn out to be a shot in the arm for critical patients, a dedicated corridor is being built from the AIIMS hospital to its trauma center at Safdarjung, which will dramatically reduce the travel time between the two buildings from 30 minutes to three minutes. Delhi Metro, which is building this corridor that is partly underground, says it will be ready in the next six months.

The dedicated corridor, part of which is already completed, is being built at a cost of Rs 40 crore for AIIMS. Said a Delhi Metro spokesman, “The construction was extremely challenging as the underground part of the corridor is being built over the existing Metro tunnels of line 2, that is, the HUDA City Centre-Jahangirpuri corridor.” The construction, in fact, had to be so specific that it took six months for the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to construct 500-odd metres of the underground tunnel.

The trauma center is located on the busy Ring Road between Safdarjung Hospital and Bhikaji Cama Place, away from the main AIIMS campus. At present, ambulances transporting patients from the main AIIMS building to the trauma center take the congested Ring Road and often get stuck there.

Interestingly, the entire corridor between AIIMS hospital and the Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Center, located 2.5km apart, was supposed to be underground. However, now Delhi Metro is converting 56m of the original underground tunnel into a 406-metre long road at grade, from the AIIMS residential colony to the trauma center.

“We had to keep a constant watch over the existing Metro tunnels,” said the spokesman. The removal of earth to build the underground tunnel, which DMRC officials described as the “over-burden” over the existing tunnels, could have led the existing tunnels to move up or sideways. “Usually, removal of the over-burden leads to the tunnel moving, which would have been dangerous as the Metro tunnels were operational. We also had to be careful of the concrete lining of the tunnels, so that they don’t crack,” added the Metro official. All the construction activity took place during non-operational hours of the Delhi Metro, so that it would not impact the tunnels.

The construction of the 614-metre long underground tunnel was challenging in others ways as well. The tunnel, which has 406 metre being constructed at grade, will be a dedicated corridor for vehicles of medical personnel and ambulances. To build this, the tunnel was constructed only 1.5 metre under the surface of the road. “Enough space had to be left between the road tunnel and the Metro tunnels, so the bottom of the road tunnel is 5.5 metre from the road surface,” said the Delhi Metro official.

The underground tunnel, which is going to be a two-lane carriageway with a 1.5-metre wide footpath, will be 4.2-metre high where commercial vehicles or public transport will not be allowed, added officials.