Ravindra Singh Gour joined L&T in 2008 at the Mumbai International Airport Project as head of the airside asphalt work for 9/27 and 14/32 runway upgradation and later as Construction Manager to construct the taxiways and apron. From 2015 till date, he has been working on and developing expertise in constructing test tracks. “First, I worked on the test track project for Hero Motors at Jaipur, followed by others at Oragadam, near Chennai, and the high speed test tracks for NATRAX at Pitampur near Indore (MP) and for Mahindra Vehicle Development Corporation at Kanchipuram, near Chennai as Head Execution/Project Manager.” Another stint was at a proving ground for MRF at Perambalur, near Trichy.
Speaking about the challenges associated with constructing the world’s steepest high speed parabolic asphalt test track at 44 degrees for Mahindras at Cheyyar, he says, “Meticulous planning was required to arrange for the special holding, paving, and rolling equipment to lay and roll the asphalt layers into the parabolic shape.” The team prepared detailed risk analysis for paving and rolling activities and prepared a formula for the asphalt mix. “The operators were given special training on the equipment and had several dry runs before paving to synchronize the holder with operating the paver,” he informs. “This is how we completed the critical asphalt work in time,” he says with a thumbs up.
The construction of special track surfaces like the Belgian Pave, cobblestones and other specialised concrete and asphalt surfaces required specialised skilled manpower which was the team’s major challenge, that became even more severe during the pandemic.
The collapse of the laid asphalt mix on the top fourth lane due to the steep inclined parabolic shape was a setback that the team addressed efficiently.
Ravindra is appreciative of his seniors who coordinated for the timely arrangement and mobilization of the special asphalt holding and paving equipment and resources during the second wave of COVID. “All our team members worked as one team to deliver the project as per plan to meet the client’s expectations,” he adds happily. “My most memorable moment was when I joined L&T in 2008 and feel proud to work on airport and test track projects, of national and international level importance of scale, complexity and uniqueness.”
Belonging to Buldana district, in Maharashtra, Ravindra is married to Vaishali, a homemaker, and they are blessed with two children: 18-year-old Sanjana, who is preparing for her NIIT Exam and 5‑yearold Ayush. Traveling in the hills and forests and being close to nature are what thrills him.
While working on a tough and challenging project like the MVDC Test Track and the opportunity to develop and implement the construction methodology to lay the high-speed parabolic curve, a critical deliverable, were hugely satisfying for Ashok Pappala, what perhaps thrilled him more was the chance to drive a car over the parabolic inclined curve at 140 kmph and feel the acceleration on a track built by him and his team. “The 44-degree super elevation of the parabolic curve is one of the highest in Asia, being executed in India for the first time,” he shares proudly, “and with no previous references, we had to learn and develop technology to execute.”
Being a test track, the client’s expectations for surface finish and quality standards were lofty. A challenge for the team was the limited availability of specialized equipment in India, forcing them to design and customize the available equipment to suit the requirements ensuring safety of men & machinery. “We were holding all the heavy equipment like pavers, 3 rollers, a pneumatic roller over the steep slope, marching in synchronization with the holder equipment.” The entire track profile was redeveloped in Autocad and the equipment movement simulated at all the curve profiles to determine the holding methodology. “Without such digital support, it would have been extremely difficult to manually ascertain the vehicle inclination, the holding length and maintain the hydraulic jack pressure,” Ashok remarks.
“This technology development would not have been possible without the support of Madhu Anand (CMPC Head – B&F — HRC) for his technical guidance and Project Manager, Raghuraman, who supported us for all the trail runs, mobilized the special components and equipment as per the CMPC methodology,” says a grateful Ashok, who praises all the other team members who played vital roles to successfully complete this project. Apart from being proud of contributing to such record creating projects, he says, “I am proud to be part of the only company in the country which creates and breaks its own records in any dimension of construction.”
Ashok’s journey with L&T began as a GET in 2010 at the Mumbai Cluster as CMPC Engineer. He has since worked at the DLF Capital Greens Project, Delhi, has been CMPC In-charge of the Gurgaon Cluster and Bangalore clusters, and after a 2‑year stint at APCRDA NGO Housing & Judicial Complex, Amaravathi as CMPC & Formwork In-charge, moved to HQ-CMPC as CMPC Engineer.
Hailing from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, Ashok is married to Divya, a teacher, and they have a daughter, 5‑year-old Akshaya, studying in UKG. He is also passionate about swimming.
THE JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES BEGINS WITH A SINGLE STEP
M James Iruthayaraja
Construction Manager (Civil), B&F IC
What would life be like, if we didn’t have the courage to attempt anything? M James Iruthayaraja has proved that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and this philosophy has given us yet another Timely Delivery Champion!
Proud that his MVDC Test track project won the Timely Delivery Award, he recognizes how introducing advanced technology, digital inspections, and documentation clearances, in collaboration with the customer, saved time and cost for the project.
“We were committed to meet the end user requirement of delivering the test track to the specified surface road tolerance for which we introduced a multiplex sensor that converts asphalt paver into a highly digitalized paver, observes real-time modulations in the road during paving and ensures the best riding quality surface. We designed a special type of concrete surface to test the vehicle’s stability in the real world.” Digital solutions aided the team to drive policy into practice, develop digital workflows, compile lessons, audits, and track KPIs.
Being relatively new to test track projects, James expresses his appreciation for his Project Manager’s guidelines, with whom he established a most complex design mix for parabola asphalt paving and special concrete surfaces with stringent track specifications. He additionally mentions establishing a well-equipped on-site laboratory, that again reduced time, cost, and third-party testing.
His previous projects include Cochin International Airport, TCS Techno Park, L&T Tech Park, JIPMER Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu Government Cement Plant — Ariyalur, Warehouse for DP world, Mumbai. James is from Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, and has two lovely children, Jeniya and Jebin. His wife Josephine Kavitha is a homemaker. During holidays, he rekindles his hobbies of watching movies and reading books.
Each new day is a blank page in the diary of life. The secret of James’s success is in turning that diary into the best story he possibly could. With joy in his eyes, he returns in time to 5th December 2005 when he received his offer letter from L&T. “L&T encourages entrepreneurship within its organization and gives us the opportunity to grow along with the company. Being one of the largest Indian MNCs allows us to implement projects that make our nation proud.”
Here’s to James for making us realize “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step with faith.”
TOUGHER PROJECT. BIGGER CHALLENGES.
GREATER RESULTS.
Sriram Subramanian
Planning Manager, B&F IC
L&T won the MVDC project on the strength of proven capabilities of constructing similar facilities for NATRiP in Chennai and Indore. “The challenges were one notch higher here for we had a steep surface to be paved and compacted, with the top lane of the Parabolic Test Track designed for cruising speeds of 220 Kmph and surface tolerance of +/- 3mm in both directions,” Sriram Subramanian notes.
With such a tough ask, the team evolved means and methods to stay on top of things with phase and weekly planning sessions, maintaining manpower and machinery requirements, immediately tracking, addressing, and resolving issues. “The team was incentivised to be open and honest about their work,” remarks Sriram, “with each team member responsible for their own activities and timelines.” About a new technique they adopted, he says, “We decided to use pull planning, a technique used as part of the Last Planner System, to develop a coordinated plan for the parabolic execution phase resulting in a higher level of integration, coordination, and efficiency. This was a team-wide commitment,” he beams.
With the team’s efficient systems and processes every person could easily determine at what stage the project was and the urgency of each task. “We created a collaborative environment for everyone to blend, identify and solve problems together that saved money, time, reduced waste and redundancy,” he points out, adding that pull planning promoted the concept of “we” instead of “me.”
Originally mandated to excavate 20,000 cum of hard rock in the prescribed timeline, during execution phase, they encountered 60,000 cum of it. Breaking the surface track and accelerating the durability track became critical paths in the R0 schedule. “We addressed it by engaging additional resources and crashing subsequent special surfaces to meet the timeline,” informs Sriram. He is appreciative of the leadership qualities of Project Director, S Raghuraman, and the support he received from the inhouse CMPC and P&M teams.
“Through our interpersonal relationships with clients and understanding end-user requirements, we built 4x4 adventure tracks (off-road) to test the off-road capability of their SUVs, and designed, built, and delivered a 16+ adventure event (Tracks), much appreciated by the Mahindra management. Having achieved this feat, we can proudly say that L&T is the first Indian MNC and, among very few in the world, to construct a parabolic track with an angle of up to 44 degrees using in-house equipment,” he declares.
An L&T‑ite since 2012, Sriram who hails from Salem, Tamil Nadu, is married to Indhumathi, a freelance architect, and they are blessed with two sons, Nidhulan and Sri Mayyuran. Long driving, off-road adventure trips, exploring new places and dishes and participating in marathons are what thrills him when not driving projects.
PROUD TO BE PART OF A UNIQUE,
WORLD-CLASS PROJECT
Jhulan Chakraborty
Assistant Construction Manager (Civil), B&F IC
The MVDC project was Jhulan Chakraborty’s 5th with L&T and one he is delighted to have been associated with, especially to work on the unique, high-speed track parabola speed track. “This was a signature project, completed with in-house equipment and made in India for which I am extremely proud,” he shares. “We designed and constructed a 4 km, 44-degree parabola curve which is 1.7 km itself. Before starting the parabola subgrade activity, we prepared the design data, cross checked, and confirmed it with our client, MVDC, and only then commenced work with GCS technology Trimble base.”
GCS technology is purely GPS base technology for smoother finish and accuracy. “For subgrade work, we deployed two modified excavators with GPS to monitor the grading and levelling of the Parabola surface after which we completed two layers of WMM similarly.” 3% & 4% cement is used for GSB and WMM for stability & strength. The client then verified the track in terms of compaction and level accuracy before further work. “Asphalt paving is key for which we used modified paver PLC programme base and rollers that also works with PLC data, prepared, and fed into the paver and modified roller by us. We used PMB40 bitumen instead of VG-30 specially in the top lane with the 44-degree curve,” he informs. “Once the asphalt activity was completed, the client was taken on a trial run with external delegates and they were very happy with the ride quality, especially the finishing of the top lane which was designed for speeds of 180 Km/Hr,” he adds, proud of their achievement.
Although Jhulan and team faced several challenges like the roller getting stuck at the top of the curve during subgrade rolling work due to improper finishing or the GCS system facing many signalling issues leading to surface finishing errors in the parabola curve, they took them in their stride to deliver a world-class project for which he whole-heartedly thanks Project Director, S. Raghuraman, Ravindra Gour sir and Rajeev Agnihotri sir for giving him a free hand to perform.
A native of Asansol, West Bengal, Jhulan is married to Arpita, a homemaker, “who’s sacrifices to get me to where I am today, I can never forget,” he shares emotionally. The apple of their eye is 8‑year-old Arijit. “My hobby is learning new things that have changed our social life as well geopolitics.”
About L&T, “I feel free to organize my work and enjoy the continuous support of my seniors and top management,” he concludes with pride.
The quality of a good manager is to get things done by his team and Boopathi C is especially pleased that he was recognised by ACC for the quality concreting he was able to deliver by training the workmen to deliver quality as per the requirements of the job. Even at his present Mahindra SUV Proving Ground Project, he says, “From day one of the project, we implemented a measurement basis for the workmen deployed for good and timely productivity for our CSR – Concrete, Structure & Reinforcement – activities.” After joining L&T in 2010, Boopathi has been involved in various projects across India including at car, cement and paint factories and test tracks.
Presently, he is delighted that after the final bill submission to the client, Mahindra, by coordinating with the client’s team, he was able to settle the final bill and collect the balance payment after completing the project. “During the project, when we were facing a shortage of bulk material, with the help of site admin department, we reached a local supplier to arrange for the timely supply of material,” he flags off a personal triumph and mentions coordinating to mobilize 250 local workmen at the height of the pandemic, that went a long way to complete the project in time.
Boopathi acknowledges the experience he has gained from both his seniors and his teammates. “My seniors have helped me professionally and personally to improve my skill and knowledge by sharing their experience during hard times to deliver a quality project while my team members have supported me in every possible way to complete our project effectively.” He loves working with L&T too, for the Company is a leader in implementing new technology and, he adds passionately, “gives me the freedom to work with safety and quality.”
Belonging to Manapparai in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, Boopathi’s better half is Carmiladevi B, a homemaker, and they are blessed with a baby girl, two-and-a-half-year-old, Venmugil B. “Once during a long leave, I came home to see my daughter for the first time and seeing her sleep holding my finger and hearing her call me “Appa”, are some of my life’s most memorable moments,” he says with over-flowing fatherly love. Reading the newspaper and cooking are some of his other favourite hobbies.
Project Manager, Raghuraman Sadagopan referred to the Mahindra SUV Proving Track project as a testing ground for his team: an extremely steep surface to be paved and compacted, with the top lane of the Parabolic Test Track designed for cruising speeds of 220 Kmph and surface tolerance of +/- 3 mm in both directions. It was certainly a test for someone like Sheshnath Sharma too, who found the project an ideal platform to prove himself and his capabilities.
At his 4th project with L&T after stints at three other B&F projects — Wonder Cement Line-II, MSIL R&D Project, Rohtak, and Natrax OTT project Indore – Sheshnath was ready and raring to go at the proving track project.
One of the major challenges the project faced was to execute without a lot of equipment available in India. “We used CNC cutting plywood profile to prepare the special surfaces and micro-scheduled each activity with the required tools and tackles including materials,” he says, referring to the team’s special initiatives to complete the project in time and win the Time Delivery Award 2022.
The sternest test the team faced was to asphalt pave the 44-degree parabola high speed track. “It was a tough task made tougher with frequent changes and we faced huge challenges to achieve the level of basalt and ceramic tiles in track T‑3,” says Sheshnath, with a shake of his head.
A successfully executed project is almost always the result of excellent teamwork with everyone at site working as one, cohesive unit. That was the case at this project too and Sheshnath acknowledges their coordination. “We had very good team spirit and were committed to complete the project with good quality and safety. We enjoyed very good coordination with seniors also,” he smiles.
“I am very fortunate to be working in L&T that gives us so many opportunities for learning and career growth,” he says, adding that he enjoys the freedom he has to express his experience to complete a job. No surprise, therefore, that his life’s most memorable moment was being selected by L&T.
Belonging to Sasaram, Bihar, Sheshnath is married to Sudha Kumari, a homemaker, and they are blessed with two children, Pratyush and Kavya. Watching movies and listening to Hindi and Bhojpuri songs are what relaxes him.
