The Nordpark Cable Railway, Innsbruck, Austria

It's difficult to say what's more breathtaking: the four railway stations that Zaha Hadid designed, which climb from the Innsbruck city center up the Nordkette mountain, or the Alpine landscapes along the route.

The stations—double-curvature glass shells that seem to hover above concrete platforms—were conceived with particular care toward the specific topography and surroundings of each location. To achieve each one's unique appearance of a flowing ice formation frozen in place, Hadid studied glacial moraines and ice movements.

(via Time.com)

The basic typesof bridges

There are three major types of bridges:

• The beam bridge
• The arch bridge
• The suspension bridge

The biggest difference between the three is the distances they can cross in a single span. A span is the distance between two bridge supports, whether they are columns, towers or the wall of a canyon. A modern beam bridge, for instance, is likely to span a distance of up to 200 feet (60 meters), while a modern arch can safely span up to 800 or 1,000 feet (240 to 300 m). A suspension bridge, the pinnacle of bridge technology, is capable of spanning up to 7,000 feet (2,100 m).

What allows an arch bridge to span greater distances than a beam bridge, or a suspension bridge to span a distance seven times that of an arch bridge? The answer lies in how each bridge type deals with two important forces called compression and tension:

• Compression is a force that acts to compress or shorten the thing it is acting on.
• Tension is a force that acts to expand or lengthen the thing it is acting on.

A simple, everyday example of compression and tension is a spring. When we press down, or push the two ends of the spring together, we compress it. The force of compression shortens the spring. When we pull up, or pull apart the two ends, we create tension in the spring. The force of tension lengthens the spring.

Compression and tension are present in all bridges, and it's the job of the bridge design to handle these forces without buckling or snapping. Buckling is what happens when the force of compression overcomes an object's ability to handle compression, and snapping is what happens when the force of tension overcomes an object's ability to handle tension. The best way to deal with these forces is to either dissipate them or transfer them. To dissipate force is to spread it out over a greater area, so that no one spot has to bear the brunt of the concentrated force. To transfer force is to move it from an area of weakness to an area of strength, an area designed to handle the force. An arch bridge is a good example of dissipation, while a suspension bridge is a good example of transference.

(via howtsuffworks).

Dubai to build world’s largest arch bride

Dubai is set to spend $817-million on building the world’s largest arch bride, at 617-feet tall and 1-mile in length. Expect it to be in service by 2012.

Dubai is the Tetsuo of cities, expanding so fast it’s on the verge of creating of its own universe. And architecture that looks like it’s from the 22nd century only adds to the sheer grandeur of its growth—this bridge, envisioned by NY architecture firm Fxfowle, will be the largest and tallest arch bridge in the world, at one mile long and 670 feet tall.

Construction starts next month and is due to wrap up in 2012 after running some $817 million dollars. World’s first vacuum tube mass transit system will launch in Dubai shortly thereafter.

Beijing's new airport takes off

Beijing has opened a huge new £1.8 billion airport terminal today ahead of this summer's Olympics.

The terminal's two mile long concourse, which is divided into three sections and connected by a shuttle train, will boost capacity at the airport to 76 million compared with the 52 million who used the airport last year.

The new airport terminal is supposed to resemble a dragon, complete with triangular windows cut into the ceiling as though they were scales. It was designed by British architect Sir Norman Foster, who also designed Hong Kong's Chep Lap Kok airport.

It has almost double the number of boarding gates of the old terminals and nearly 300 check-in desks. The terminal has been built to maximise the use of natural light, with walls of glass.

Air travel in China is booming, on the back of growing tourism and rising domestic incomes, with 200 million passengers expected to take to this skies this year, up from 185 million last year.
The country plans to build nearly 100 new airports by 2020 to cater for this demand, many in remote, economically backward areas.

Six airlines will use the new terminal initially, including British Airways, Sichuan Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Qatar Airways, Qantas and El Al Israel Airlines.

More will move in from March 26, including Air China, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, Air Canada and other Star Alliance members, as well as Emirates and Hong Kong's Dragonair.

The terminal also has special bridges to handle Airbus's giant double-decked A380 superjumbo.

(via Flightmapping)

New Bangalore airport exposes India's infrastructure challenge

In southern India the much-awaited Bangalore international airport is almost ready, but getting there could prove a nightmare for travellers facing more chaos on clogged roads.

The 630-million-dollar facility is 95 percent complete, and will open for flights as scheduled on March 30, Bangalore International Airport Ltd. (BIAL) chief executive officer Albert Brunner said.

Brunner has met his deadline to complete the airport, located 36 kilometres (22.5 miles) north of the choked city centre, in three years.

That feat alone is remarkable in a country where such large infrastructure projects routinely run into major delays.

But the government has not delivered on promises to widen access roads or build a dedicated rail link to and from the city -- meaning the commute could take much longer than a short-haul flight.

The railway is still only a proposal on paper, while a four-kilometre road from the nearest highway to the airport is still to be completed. The airport itself has taken over construction of the link in a bid to open it on time.

"It's a pity the government didn't do anything about connectivity to the airport," lamented Marcel Hungerbuehler, chief operations officer at BIAL, a consortium that includes Unique Zurich Airport, Siemens of Germany and Larsen and Toubro of India.

The Bangalore project well illustrates the problems India faces in fixing its creaky infrastructure to match an economy expanding at an annual rate of nine percent.

Growing personal incomes have fuelled a surge in air traffic and car sales, straining aviation and road infrastructure in a country that needs to invest tens of billions of dollars in public works.

Domestic air traffic is forecast to double to 60 million passengers by 2010 from last year, while car sales are projected to reach two million units from 1.4 million in the same period.

"BIAL has done its job," said Kapil Kaul, the India head of the Centre for Asia-Pacific Civil Aviation.

"The other stakeholders, mainly the state government, have almost totally ignored their responsibility of providing logistics.

"I find it shocking that an airport is ready, but there may be no way of getting there."

From Electronic City in south Bangalore -- the hub of India's information technology industry -- it could take a four-hour drive to reach the airport when it opens.

Flying time to the nearby southern city of Chennai is just 40 minutes.

"It will be a nightmare driving to the airport," said N. Reghuraj, the head of the local chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry, who flies out of Bangalore's old airport twice a week.

"The passengers are not happy, the cargo guys are not happy."

India's traffic problem is particularly acute in Bangalore, and seemingly set to worsen. The city of six million people adds 1,000 vehicles to the roads a day and traffic crawls at an average speed of 13 kilometres an hour.

Read more.

SEZ policy: Is it flawed?

Way back in April 2000, India announced the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) scheme to overcome the shortcomings posed by clearances and taxes and foster economic growth of the impoverished regions. But the SEZ scheme hit a roadblock, getting entangled in one controversy or the other. The policy attracted more criticism than was expected. Human rights groups were up in arms, Nandigram and Singur burned and the repercussions were felt even in Kolkatta. SEZ’s were supposed to offer high-class infrastructure and reduce import duties on raw materials.

But how could a concept borrowed from our brothers in the neighbourhood go so horribly wrong? The concept of SEZ had been hugely successful in China and was one of the driving forces behind the rising Chinese economy. In provinces like Hainan, Hunchun, Guangdong and Fujian, SEZ’s are still operating and continue to provide jobs, knowledge and expertise and still make significant profits. Shenzen proves that under different economic laws, a region can develop better. SEZ’s have not been restricted to these two countries. In fact, long before India thought of SEZ’s, the concept had been tried and tested in countries like Jordan, Iran, Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, Pakistan and the Philippines. So what really went wrong?

The acquisition of land by the government on behalf of the industries setting up their units in these SEZ’s raised many an eyebrow. First there was some confusion regarding the type of land that could be acquired. Could arable land also be used to develop SEZ’s? The Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 made no mention of the type of land that could be borrowed or grabbed by the government.

Under the present laws, acquisition is limited to non-agricultural land. But the question now is what compensation is to be paid to the families being displaced. The government authorities have always been keen on displacing families but never too keen on rehabilitation of the displaced families. Consider the Narmada Dam project; thousands of families have been displaced but are yet to be rehabilitated; human rights activist Medha Patkar continues to fight for their rights. Thus, the process of land acquisition has become the most controversial one. Farmers raised a big hue and cry when their fertile, arable land, their only source of livelihood, was taken away from them.

The point of conflict arises when the farmers or the villagers refuse to sell their land and defy the government; in such cases, constitutionally the government has no right to force them to sell their land. Also the SEZ policy discourages real estate development but the government has not been able to ensure compliance. It is believed that migration would cause a huge problem and disturb the law and order situation of the state. Even if the locals are provided jobs in the SEZ units, it may not provide fulfilment to the locals. Sectors like IT and pharmaceuticals are not labour-intensive. This is another point highlighted by the protestors.

Read more

The new Mumbai airport: What will it be like?

G V Sanjay Reddy, 45, wears many hats. He is the vice chairman of GVK, one of India's largest infrastructure developers; MD of the Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd, which operates India's busiest airport; MD of GVK Jaipur Expressway, which operates the six-lane toll road project on the Golden Quadrilateral; and CEO of GVK Biosciences.

He is also on the board of the Hyderabad-based TajGVK. It's obviously helped that he is the only son of Group Chairman G V Krishna Reddy.

The GVK Group is working at a breathtaking space. It is constructing power plants and special economic zones, will build a port in Dahej, is bidding for the Ganga Expressway project in Uttar Pradesh, the Navi Mumbai airport and the Metro Rail Phase II.

These days, however, Reddy is mostly wearing the MIAL MD's hat, as the upgradation of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai is one of the most challenging tasks any CEO can ever dream of, Reddy says. The job also involves taking decisions on hundreds of acres of land around the airport which is located in the prime area of Santacruz -- a reason why he has now got 24-hour security (a plain clothed guard is his constant companion).

He also doesn't take any call on his Blackberry if he can't recognise the number. "It's just a professional hazard," Reddy says, trying hard to be nonchalant about these "small" changes in his life.

We are at Masala Bay on the first floor of Taj Lands End in Bandra. The steward ushers us to an exclusive corner, which gives the ambience of a private dining hall. And the reason is quite obvious: the Reddy family is the owner of TajGVK, which runs the Taj hotel properties in Hyderabad. Reddy leaves the choice of food to the steward ("it's better to leave the job to experts," he says) and opts for buttermilk to start with. The steward looks mighty pleased.

The Mumbai airport project, which MIAL bagged in February 2006 in the face of stiff competition, has already completed its first phase of work. And the impact is visible. Take Terminal 1B, which now has gleaming granite, newly-planted waving palms, kalzip roofing (a rainscreen system) and substantially more personnel and counters. The airport now also has a rapid exit taxiway called India, which is saving around two minutes per aircraft movement.

GVK has also managed kerbside improvements, demolished over 600 toilets in the area to upgrade them and even imported furniture from Spain to improve the look and feel of the airport.

Surely, that must be the easier part of the whole airport modernisation plan? Reddy disagrees vehemently and says that it has been, in fact, one of the most difficult part of the job. "If we have managed to do this within the targetted deadline, the rest of it should be easy," he says.

Reason: GVK found that the Airports Authority of India didn't have ownership rights on over 45 per cent of the area within the airport premises. That involves over 400 litigation issues which kept his formidable team of lawyers busy throughout last year.

But they did a damn good job, Reddy says, as the starters arrive. The steward has been most generous indeed as the plate contains grilled chicken, lamb chops and chicken kebabs. For a moment, I mistake it for the main course.

Reddy looks pleased and proceeds to give a fascinating account of how the GVK Group met the formidable challenges that came its way. For example, the airport had given out 35,000 entry passes to all kinds of people who had very little to do with the core function: to make the airport work.

That posed a huge risk to security apart and streamlining these things take a lot of patience and hard work. "We run the risk of treading on too many toes," he says.

Besides, the country's busiest airport is spread over a mere 1,850 acres (the operational area in fact is just 1,450 acres), which is "peanuts" compared to Delhi's 5,000 acres. And apparently, the airport was violating 76 of the 77 universally recognised standards for international airports in the areas of runway rules and security distances to be maintained for smooth flights.

"In no part of the world would you be allowed to function with such non-compliance."

Quickly realising that this should not upset the powers-that-be, Reddy says the state government and the AAI have been most constructive in their suggestions and extending all help.

Another problem was that encroachments were far higher than what was initially indicated. Surveys conducted by MIAL found that the actual encroachments were in excess of 262 acres. But one of Reddy's crowning glories has been in managing slum rehabilitation. Hindustan Development Infrastructure Ltd, which is overseeing this aspect, has already identified 100 acres of land within three kilometres of the airport site.

The immigration system at the arrival area of the international terminal has been overhauled with additional counters making it amongst the fastest in the world. With additional check-in counters at Terminal 1B (80 in all, which is more than double of the earlier capacity) the entire area has been decongested.

The Mumbai airport also became the first airport in India to launch free Wi-Fi internet service throughout the domestic and international terminals. Free internet kiosks will also be set up in all terminals, with each terminal having at least one kiosk with four computers.

The main course -- rotis, chicken curry and baked fish -- looks appetising, but Reddy talks non-stop and eats little. The Mumbai airport makeover is clearly a passion for him -- something which has forced him to stay alone in Mumbai (he visits his wife and two children in Hyderabad only on Sundays) and skip scuba diving and trekking, reasons for his slender frame, for almost two years now.

Reddy's plan is to expand and upgrade the Mumbai airport infrastructure to cater to 40 million passengers per year in two years (against 17 million now) and double cargo movement to one million tonnes per year. In the second and third phases, the international and domestic terminals will be merged and the current domestic terminal will be converted to a dedicated cargo terminal.

With the parallel runway that is being planned, the airport will be able to handle about 60 flights per hour, compared to the current 500 flights per day.

The company is also looking at developing an elevated expressway that directly connects the Western Express Highway to the airport. A monorail system to facilitate passenger movement internally is also on the cards. Besides, talks are on to link the Mumbai airport to the Mumbai Metro.

The project cost till 2010 is Rs 5,200 crore (Rs 52 billion) inanced through a debt-equity mix of 80:20. The debt has already been tied up with Indian institutions led by UTI Bank and IDBI Bank.

The company has also submitted plans to the state government for extensive city-side redevelopment which will include the commercial development of hotels, convention centres and a recreational area in the proximity of the airport.

The main course is over fast -- a consequence perhaps of the rather heavy starters -- and Reddy is clearly in a hurry to leave. As his black Mercedes rolls in to take him to his office at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport, he says his group is also planning to bid for airports in other parts of the world. "If we can succeed in Mumbai, other parts of the world will hopefully be a cakewalk," he says.

(via Rediff.com)

Mumbai plans prestige maglev train to combat overcrowding

India's financial capital, Mumbai, is considering a £3.75bn futuristic magnetic levitation high-speed train network as a part of a radical overhaul of the infrastructure of the city whose transport system is bursting at the seams.

The Maharashtra state government wants up to six maglev routes, of between 16 to 30 miles, linking the port city to the suburbs. The role model appears to be Shanghai's maglev train, which links the Chinese city's underground with the international airport and runs at up to 268mph.

Mumbai's railways were boycotted only last week by thousands of commuters because of the "deadly" overcrowding. Passenger groups say that on average every square metre of railway carriage accommodates 17 people on each trip.

The situation is likely to worsen as Mumbai's population doubles in 10 years or so to 30 million people. Experts say the city will have to spread beyond its island.

"I think the money is not an issue, neither is the technology. The problem here is whether Mumbai is ready for the kind of expansion envisaged. Maglev is a good start but we need more innovative thinking," said Hafeez Contractor, an architect who advised the government.

Maglev trains, which are lifted by magnetism to leave a small gap between them and the elevated track, have a spotty record. In Japan the expected exorbitant costs meant plans to build a maglev line between Tokyo and Osaka hit the buffers. And critics of Shanghai's maglev train say it haemorrhages money and the high speeds cannot be justified over short distances.

In India many say the prestige project would divert precious resources. "Half of Mumbai lives in slums with no sewers," said Sheila Patel, of Sparc, a group which works with the city's poor. "The city has begun to suffer power shortages for the first time in living memory. These are base infrastructure problems that we have to deal with. I cannot see how spending money on high-speed trains is a good idea in the circumstances."