PATNA (Metro Rail News): The tunneling work for the Patna Metro Rail Project will take place in the underground section of Corridor II in November. The state capital should receive the first Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) by the end of the next month.
The nodal organisation for the Patna Metro Project, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC) will procure two TBMs from a Chinese company. The equipment will be used to construct twin tunnels connecting Patna Junction and Rajendra Nagar. The tunnel will be constructed using Earth Pressure Balancing (EPB) Technology and its concrete lining will be made of precast tunnel rings as stated by a DMRC official.
There will be two phases to the tunnel-digging process. After a survey and utility diversion, the machine will be lowered in the first phase in a dug-up area close to Moin-Ul-Haque Stadium.
The machines will drill tunnels up to the Patna University where it would be extracted. The second machine will start digging from Gandi Maidan to Patna University. The excavation work will be done in the second phase between Gandhi Maidan and Patna Junction as well as between Moin-Ul-Haq Stadium and Rajendra Nagar. At Rajendra Nagar, Moin-ul-Haq Satidum, Patna University, PMCH, Gandhi Maidan and Akashvani on Frazer Road, underground stations for Corridor-II are being constructed.
Four TBMs will be mobilised altogether. Two machines have already been ordered. “By the end of October, it’s anticipated that the machines will arrive in Patna,” an official said. According to the official, the tunnelling project for Corridor II’s underground section should be finished in 24 to 30 months.
Depending on the geological conditions, TBMs can bore nearly 8 to 10 metres per day. A difficult situation would cause the progress to slow down. The machine is designed specifically so that the concrete tube and debris clearance happen simultaneously.
