Chennai Metro Rail finally completes tunnel between Ayanavaram and Perambur
Chennai Metro Rail has finally constructed a tunnel between Ayanavaram and Perambur for the ₹63,246-crore phase II project, more than one-and-a-half years after the work began. The tunnel boring machine (TBM) 'Kalvarayan' bored a tunnel running to a length of 867 metres and made a breakthrough at Perambur on Tuesday. With this, Chennai Metro Rail has finished 11 tunnels so far for the phase II project.
In the 118.9 km phase II project which will have three corridors (Madhavaram-SIPCOT, Light House-Poonamallee, and Madhavaram-Sholinganallur), 42.6 km has been planned underground, and there will be 48 stations. Ayanavaram-Perambur underground stretch is one of the sections in the Madhavaram-SIPCOT corridor of the phase II project.
According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), it was a complex tunnel and they faced a lot of difficulties in completing it. The machine drilled under densely populated areas, railway tracks and platforms of Perambur Railway Station during the course of tunnelling.
'The entire tunnelling drive was well managed within the allowable minimum settlements and extensive instrumentation and monitoring was ensured throughout the drive,' a release said.
Besides this, one of the major challenges the CMRL faced was to complete the station's diaphragm wall (which is crucial for the TBM to make a breakthrough) at Perambur. Though the machine finished boring more than 95 percent of the distance, it was kept waiting outside the Perambur station and was unable to make a breakthrough. The construction of the Perambur station, similar to many stations in the Madhavaram-SIPCOT corridor, faced a setback as the tender floated for this work was cancelled a few years ago. This delayed the construction process substantially.
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