The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation completes key 1.25-kilometre tunnel
On the 59 kilometre long Majlis Park Shiv Vihar Pink corridor, about 19 kilometres are underground.
New Delhi: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has successfully wrapped up all the tunneling works of Phase 3 with the completion of a 1.25-kilometre- long tunnel between Vasant Vihar and Munirka on the Janakpuri West- Botanical Garden Magenta Line, said the DMRC on Tuesday.
The Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) broke through at Munirka on Monday evening. The work on this tunnel had started in October this year. The tunnel consists of a total of 904 rings and has been constructed about 20 metres below the surface.
“With this tunnel breakthrough, DMRC in Phase 3 has now completed one of the largest ever tunneling projects taken up in any urban area all over the world where a record 30 TBMs were used to bore close to 80 kilometres of underground tunnels (combining the length of both tunnels for to and fro movement of trains). The total underground corridor length in Phase 3, including the stations, is about 54 kilometres,” said DMRC in a press statement.
The underground work of Phase 3 was even more than the combined work undertaken in the first two phases.
On the 38 kilometre long Janakpuri West- Botanical Garden corridor where the tunnel breakthrough took place on Monday, about 23 kilometres are underground. The tunnelling work on this corridor had multiple engineering challenges. The new tunnels passed below already operational elevated viaducts of Delhi Metro at three locations (at Janakpuri West below Blue Line, near IGI Airport below Airport Line and near Kalkaji Mandir below Violet Line). At Hauz Khas, the new tunnel also passed below the already operational tunnel of Delhi Metro’s Yellow Line.
A 1.4 kilometre long tunnel between Shankar Vihar and Vasant Vihar on this section was also fraught with challenges as it passed below the rocky Aravali ranges and special Rock TBMs had to be pressed into service for the drive.
On the 59 kilometre long Majlis Park – Shiv Vihar Pink corridor, about 19 kilometres are underground. This is the longest ever Metro corridor of the DMRC network.