By Lynda Myer
Including 3 new corridors of metro rail for a total length of 116.1 km with 119 metro stations, that comprises Corridor-3, from Madhavaram to Siruseri -SIPCOT, 45.8 km; Corridor-4, from Light House to Poonamalee Bypass, 26.1 km; Corridor-5, from Madhavaram to Sholinganallur, 47 km, advancement of the Chennai city metro rail network as part of Phase II is going to be done by CMRL.
Corridor-3
Stretching from Madhavaram Milk Colony to Kellys, Corridor 3 was constructed by Tata Projects Ltd benefiting 7 TBMs for building of this first 9 km underground section. Being commissioned in Madhavaram Milk Colony Station to Madavaram High Road on 13.10.2022, the TBM Nilgiri (S96) completed the excavation of a 1.4km section and broke-through at Madhavaram High Road in august 2023.
Corridor-4
Linking the beachfront from Light House station at Marina Beach to Poonamallee Depot, Chennai Metro Rail Phase II Corridor 4 is a 26.1km east-west alignment with 9 underground stations and 18 elevated stations. Corridor 4 the underground part stretches over 10 km, originating from the Lighthouse, and passing through Chennai’s oldest areas like Mylapore, Kutchery Road to new and upmarket areas like Alwarpet, Bharatidasan, Boat Club, Panagal Park & Kodambakkam Flyover.
In order to constructing the underground section of this corridor, which is split into two packages (UG-01 & UG-02) containing 4 km of twin tunnels each, four TBMs that were manufactured by Herrenknecht and assembled at Herrenknecht India Pvt, are due to be used by the CMRL’s contractor M/s ITD Cementation India Ltd. Additionally, Ltd (HAI) placed at Chennai to complete the almost 16km of tunneling, doing both Upline & Downline tunnels as well as its metro stations.
The station of launching TBMs Flamingo (S1352A) and Eagle (S1073B) will be Light House, while the other two TBM’s Peacock (S1074B) and Pelican (S1075B) will be started up at Panagal Park.
Following that TBM Flamingo had been lowered in the south shaft-down line in the presence of senior officials from CMRL, General Consultants, M/s AEON Consortium, and ITD Cementation, on September 2023 it started the digging of the first 1.96 km tunnel from Light House station to Thirumayilai Metro. Commencing from Light House Station towards Kutchery Road, the journey of TBM Flamingo will be at a maximum depth of 30m beneath ground and tentatively it will reach in Thirumayilai Station in 1 year, whereas the expected date for its arrival at the retrieval shaft of Boat Club Station will be May 2026.
The Factory Acceptance Test of the 4th and last TBM for the corridor 4, which is the 2nd TBM for UG-02 package has successfully passed at early August. It was carried out in the presence of R.Ranganathan, General Manager (Construction) CMRL along with various officials from General Consultants, M/s AEON Consortium at HK factory in Thiruvallur District, Ponneri Thaluk, Alinjivakkam village, Chennai. The TBM EPB S1075B with 6.67 m diameter, 110 m length and 700 t weight, is slated to be dismantled in parts and packed and then it will be transported to its destination at Panagal Park Station, T Nagar.
While the construction process of the TBM launching shaft is undergoing at Panagal Park Station, the scheduled date for lowering and assembling the TBM is October 2023. This TBM will be launched on the Downline of this corridor-4 and will drive at a maximum depth of 26 m below ground starting from the Boat Club, Nandanam, Panagal Park, Kodambkkam and finally planned to arrive at retrieval shaft after Kodambakkam Flyover in Sept 2024.
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