Metro Rail to dig below Chintadripet from Nov 2

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

Chennai Metro Rail is expected to start tunneling from May Day Park in Chintadripet from November 2, according to a official linked with the project.

Speaking to Express after delivering a talk on ‘Tunneling through Tunnel Boring Machines: A Talk about Metro Rail Projects’, Sanjeev Kumar Mandal, resident engineer, Tunnels, who is involved in the project to construct tunnel from Saidapet to May Day Park said two tunnel boring machines will start burrowing from November 2.

 Similarly, two other tunnel boring machines is expected to start digging from Saidapet to Gemini this December. A total of four TBMs will be used in the stretch connecting Saidapet, Chamiers Road, Teynampet and Gemini stations.

All the four TBMs are manufactured by German firm Herrenknecht, one of the pioneers in tunnel boring technology. Russian contractor MosMetroStory, which has over 100 years of experience in tunneling, is overseeing the project, said Mandal.

He said the total work of laying tunnels between Saidapet to May Day Park would be completed by March 2014. Metro Rail is using 11 TBMs, nine German and two Chinese, assembled at specific sites to drill 24 km with 19 stations beneath the city to create infrastructure for its two corridors.

Meanwhile, the mock up model of Chennai Metro Rail has been completed in Brazil and is expected to reach the shores of Chennai by the end of this month.

 Metro Rail said that eight cars shells required for the first two trains is completed and further fitment of cables, pipes, panels and equipments are progressing well in Alstom factory located in Sao polo, Brazil.

The first train will be rolled out for Chennai Metro Rail (CMRL) officials’ inspection in Brazil by the end of November 2012 and is expected to be shipped to Chennai by March next year. The first TBM, launched in July, has readied a nearly 100 metre-long tunnel.