CHENNAI (Metro Rail News): Construction work will begin soon in the next few weeks for Chennai Metro Phase-2 from Madhavaram for the underground tunnel contracts recently awarded by Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) in two parts for Line-3.
In May, CMRL awarded contracts for the underground section of Line-3 in two packages to Tata Projects Ltd. from Madhavaram to Kellys station of length 9 km and to Larsen & Toubro from Kellys Station to Taramani Road Junction of length of 12 km. Completion period for both contracts is 42 months.
Madhavaram is an important station that will be an interchange station for Line-3 and Line-5. It will also house the largest metro rail maintenance depot in Chennai. It will be constructed in 69 acres of land. It will work as a main centre for the upkeep of driverless trains which will operate in Phase-2 of Chennai Metro.
As per the officials of CMRL, the contractor will begin from Madhavaram since it is one of the important stations. “Also, the largest depot for this project is coming up at Madhavaram, and it is one of the terminal stations. Hence, we asked the contractor to start at this point. First, various machines will be assembled and then the diaphragm wall will be built. Only then will the tunnelling work be taken up,” an official said.
Construction of underground section will be quite challenging this time as the route passes through some of the city’s most congested areas. “But we have the experience of doing this work in north Chennai, so they should ensure that the same issues do not occur again and the public do not suffer because of the construction,” the official said.
Phase-2 of Chennai Metro comprises construction of three lines covering 118.9 km to be built at a cost of INR 61,843 crores with all three corridors expected to be operational by the year 2026.
Work on Phase-2 of Chennai Metro has been slowed down in recent times due to Covid-19 second wave and the resultant lockdowns. However, the work has picked up pace in recent times with CMRL awarding multiple contracts on various sections under Phase-2.
For the elevated package C4-ECV-02 of length 7.94 km for Line-4 from Porur Junction to Poonamalle Bypass, the contract was recently awarded to Hindustan Construction Company Ltd. – KEC International Consortium, the contractors have start placing barricades at various points to initiate pilling work in coming weeks.
