Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS Corridor: Second Tunnel Breakthrough In Meerut

The longest tunnel on the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor achieved a successful breakthrough on 15 December (yesterday) in Meerut.

The tunnel boring machine, also known as Sudarshan 8.1, successfully constructed about 2-km length of a tunnel between Bhainsali and Meerut and achieved a breakthrough at the tunnel retrieving shaft at Meerut Central Station.

Two parallel tunnels were to be built between Bhaisali Station and Meerut Central station, of which the construction work of the first tunnel has been completed. The second parallel tunnel is being constructed by Sudarshan 8.2, which has completed more than half of the approximately 2 km of tunnelling so far.

After being retrieved, Sudarshan 8.1 will be dismantled and laden on the trailers, and the cutter head and shield will be transported to the launching shaft built at the Bhainsali Station. Then, it will be reassembled and re-launched for the construction of an about 1 km long tunnel between Bhainsali and Begumpul. This will mark the beginning of the third section of tunnel construction in Meerut.

Earlier on 22 October, Sudarshan 8.3 had made a breakthrough at Begumpul RRTS station after successfully constructing a 750-metre-long tunnel. Presently, Sudarshan 8.3 is being assembled to be relaunched from Gandhi Bagh to construct about a 750-metre-long parallel tunnel to Begumpul. The process of launch is to begin soon.

More than 9,000 pre-cast segments have been used for the construction of this 2 km long tunnel from Bhainsali to Meerut Central. In the tunnelling process, these segments are inserted and seven segments are combined to make one ring.

The tunnel segments are being cast at NCRTC's Casting Yard in Shatabdi Nagar with assured quality control. Pre-casting helps in the safe and fast execution of the works while ensuring good quality control, minimising inconvenience to the road users, local passers-by, business owners and residents along the entire stretch, and reduction in air and noise pollution.

The project is being implemented as per the scheduled timeline. Meerut Central, Bhaisali, and Begumpul are the underground stations in Meerut, out of which Meerut Central and Bhaisali are the Meerut Metro Stations whereas Begumpul Station serves both RRTS and metro.

NCRTC is going to provide local transit services, Meerut Metro, on the RRTS network itself in Meerut with 13 stations in a span of 21 km for local transit needs.