CMRL to begin tunnelling in Alwarpet, Teynampet soon

Chennai Metro Rail will start tunnelling from Thirumayilai to Boat Club in June for phase II underground network.

The Chennai Metro Rail will commence the work to create an underground network between Thirumayilai and Boat Club in June this year for the upcoming 118.9-km phase II network.

Two tunnel boring machines (TBM), Eagle and Flamingo, which recently completed the boring work from Light House to Thirumayilai, will be redeployed again from Thirumayilai to Boat Club.

In the ₹63,246-crore phase II project, this short stretch from Thirumayilai to Boat Club is a part of the east-west corridor or the corridor 4 from Poonamallee to Light House (covering 26.1 km).

The tunnelling work in the near 1.9-km Thirumayilai to Boat Club stretch will start at Thirumayilai and continue through residential areas in Alwarpet and Teynampet before reaching Boat Club. The stations in this short stretch include Thirumayilai, Alwarpet, Bharathidasan Road, and Boat Club.

According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), the TBM Eagle which made a breakthrough early this month at Thirumayilai will be dismantled and reassembled at another shaft in Thirumayilai itself. The same process will be followed by the TBM Flamingo subsequently.

The shaft where the TBM Eagle has to be launched is likely to be ready by the end of April. After that, CMRL will begin the process to lower and reassemble the TBM. The initial drive may begin by the end of June. “We expect that the tunnelling from Thirumayilai till Bharathidasan Road will be quite challenging because of the geology. It will be a mix of rock and clayey soil and the machine has to put in differential pressure. It may result in more wear and tear and hence cutter head interventions (changing of an important component of a TBM) may have to be carried out often. Beyond Bharathidasan Road, it will be a fairly smooth drive and there may not be any issue,” an official said.