CHENNAI (Metro Rail News): The first tunneling activities for Metro Rail’s Phase-II project will start in Madhavaram by the middle of October.
According to representatives of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), the first tunnel boring machine (TBM) that arrived from China more than two months ago was lowered into the construction site last week. One TBM will commence the initial tunneling operation at Madhavaram and drill toward Kellys to construct a subterranean section. A second TBM will be utilized a month later.
Work will first start on the subterranean portions from Madhavaram to Kellys in the 118.9-Km Phase II Project’s three corridors: Madhavaram to SIPCOT, Light House to Poonamallee and Madhavaram to Shollinganallur (a part of Madhavaram-SIPCOT corridor). Two more TBMs will begin operating between Kellys and Taramani later this year. The underground work will eventually spread to other parts of the city as well.
“Usually, we give a gap of a few weeks between the deployment of the two TBMs. It is always better to operate with a space of 100 m or more. Before starting the tunneling work at Madhavaram, we completed surveys and utility diversion work. We have to track and plug the borewells within residences,” an official said.
The underground stretch in various sites of the Phase II Project, which was developed at a cost of 61,843 crores, would be constructed using 23 TBMs by Chennai Metro Rail. The majority of the equipment used this time including 12 machines from Tamil Nadu and one from Pune would be refurbished domestically. According to another official there will also be one from Germany and five from China. These will hasten the underground stretch’s completion.
“Some of the machines have already arrived and will soon gear up for the work. TBMs can usually bore nearly 8-10 m a day but, if the geological conditions are tough it could slow down to as much as 5 m. We have been planning well to see that there aren’t too many delays in the completion,” he added.
