3.5km tunnel work of Metro 3 completed, declares MMRCL
It was a herculean task for the engineers as the tunnel passes under 14 high-rise buildings and 28 heritage structures.
Mumbai: The Mumbai Metro 3 has crossed yet another milestone with the completion of the 3.814-km-long tunnel from Azad Maidan to Mumbai Central. It was a herculean task for the engineers as the tunnel passes under 14 high-rise buildings and 28 heritage structures.
The work for the tunneling was started in December last year for package 2 of the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ metro 3 corridor. It was completed Friday after 20 months.
The Vaitarna 1 tunnel boring machine (TBM) that was used for the tunneling completed the job at a mining average of 190 metres every month and putting 2,720 rings every month. The TBM machine made its way through hard basalt and Breccia rock mass, with some pockets of very low strength shale bands with average depth of below 20 metres from the road level. Package 2 is the first package of this project to complete one entire tunnel drive.
The managing director of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. Ashwini Bhide said, “The task was challenging and daunting. However, successful completion makes us more confident of completing the project as scheduled. We are also progressing well at station works simultaneously.”
This is the 15th breakthrough in the Metro 3 corridor. According to the officers, the task was challenging as the underground Metro 3 corridor passes under 14 high-rise buildings and 28 heritage structures.