Chennai Metro Gets Two New Tunnel Boring Machines; To Begin Work On 9 Km Long Twin Tunnel In October

A pair of tunnel boring machines, S97 and S98, arrived at Chennai Port to begin work on the 118.9 km Chennai Metro Phase 2 line.

Tata Projects Ltd. will use two more tunnel boring machines to construct twin tunnels in the core city area as CMRL prepares to begin tunnelling in October.

The two 6.61m TBM machines manufactured by Terratec in China will be used to build approximately 9 km of twin tunnels (a total of 18 km) on Line-3's Venugopal Nagar - Kellys section.

"Two tunnel boring machines have arrived at the Chennai Port. We are waiting for the customs clearance, which will probably take two or three days. The machines will be shifted from the port to Madhavaram," said L Girirajan, Public Relations Officer, Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), reported Economic Times.

The TBM launched at Madhavaram may take months to reach Kellys, and the length of time would primarily rely on the geological conditions.

Around 26.7 km of Corridor 3's 45.81 km stretch from Madhavaram to SIPCOT and 10 km of Corridor 4, a 26-kilometre route connecting Light House and Poonamallee, will be underground.

Another 5.8 km underground section of Corridor 5 connects Madhavaram and Shollinganallur, which spans 47 km.

The phase II project will require 23 TBMs, and the additional equipment is expected to arrive shortly.

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