For the first time since the project work commenced five years ago, Chennai Metro Rail plans to procure a few more tunnel boring machines (TBMs) as delays plague the underground construction work of the upcoming phase II project.
Cancellation of tenders floated for station construction in the initial stages of the project and shifting of utility pipelines are some of the major reasons contributing to this delay.
In the 118.9-km phase II project which will serve the city commuters through three corridors — Madhavaram to SIPCOT (corridor 3), Poonamallee to Light House (corridor 4), and Madhavaram to Sholinganallur (corridor 5), 42.6 km is built as underground network.
Tunnelling for a total length of 69.05 km has to be completed. But as of now, only 28.11 km of the tunnelling work has been done so far.
A total of 23 TBMs were purchased in the initial period of the project to carry out the tunnelling work, and they were subsequently engaged for work. Usually, when the TBM completes tunnelling in a stretch, it will be dismantled and again relaunched at another location.
