Metrol Rail on PH road goes underground

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Commuters might not be able to feel it, but, in a few days, massive tunnel boring machines would be rumbling over 20 meters beneath the arterial Poonammallee High Road, carving out ‘tubes’ for the city’s metro rail network.

The landmark launching of TBMs (tunnel boring machines) from Nehru Park towards Egmore on the underground stretch, the first of its kind witnessed in the city, formally took place at an auspicious time Saturday noon.

Senior CMRL (Chennai Metro Rail Limited) officials and representatives of L&T and China-based SUCG, who execute the work as a joint venture, took part in the formal launch, which marks the start of works on the underground section comprising 19 stations in the entire 45km network.

CMRL higher-ups told DC that the drive from Nehru Park would start late Sunday or early Monday upon completing the remaining works of the TBM control room. The 939meter Nehru Park-Egmore stretch would be tentatively completed in around 90 days by October-end if the TBMs, which are capable mining 10 meter in soil and six meter in rock per day, progress smoothly.

While the second TBM would start tunneling from Nehru Park in the next 20 days, TBMs on Shenoy Nagar-Tirumangalam, May Day Park-Chennai Central and Washermanpet-High Court would start driving in September, officials added. The first TBM on Anna Salai would be launched from October. Once the TBM launched on Saturday completes the tunnel, it would be dismantled and reassembled for tunneling from additional commissioner’s office (traffic) to Kilpauk by December.

By January 2013, all the 11 TBMs would be rolling across the city. CMRL officials and technical staff of JV exuded confidence that people would not be feeling the tunnelling and the machine could be calibrated and controlled to suit the terrain around.

397 borewells, 57 open wells closed for metro work

The launch of tunnelling works on the underground stretch by Chennai Metro Rail did not come easily. As many as 397 borewells and 57 open wells that fell on the path of the underground Metro network had to be closed in the city. Also, around 11 km of drinking water pipelines and six kilometers of sewer lines crisscrossing the city were shifted.

Metro Rail has paid Rs 1 lakh as compensation or dug alternate borewells, to people who lost the borewells in the backyard to the Metro network. The massive Tunnel Boring Machines(TBM) of CMRL would be driving beneath nearly 240 structures, 110 in Chintadripet, 53 in Shenoy Nagar and remaining in George Town/Mannadi.

CMRL has set April 2015 as deadline for completing the tunnelling and underground station works.