Two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) deployed for Chennai Metro Rail’s phase II project to build an underground network between Light House and Thirumayilai have been temporarily stopped now.
Flamingo and Eagle, the two TBMs, started their tunnelling journey nearly two years back from the Light House station and are scheduled to reach the Thirumayilai Metro Rail’s phase II station shortly. After passing through nearly 160 buildings, which include an old church, school and an embassy, Flamingo TBM and the Eagle TBM are currently taking a break from the tunnelling work.
According to officials in the Chennai Metro Rail project, both the TBMs are now going through a process called cutter head intervention. “Cutter head, an important unit in a TBM endures a lot of wear and tear while boring the earth. Hence, we are now carrying out the cutter head intervention process wherein the tools of the cutter head are changed. This will take some time and then the machines will resume their drilling work,” an official said.
Both Flamingo and Eagle have to drill a total of 1.9 km to build twin tunnels linking Light House with Thirumayilai. This 1.9 km stretch currently getting shaped is an underground section in corridor 4 of the phase II project which connects Light House with Poonamallee via Thirumayilai and T-Nagar.
