The last Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) of DMRC’s current phase
of construction started work today between Najafgarh and Dhansa Stand on the
Dwarka – Najafgarh – Dhansa Stand corridor.
The TBM will bore a 700 metre long tunnel between Najafgarh
and Dhansa Stand on the up line and the same machine will be subsequently used
for tunnelling on the down line between the same stations. The entire
tunnelling work on both the up and down lines will be completed by September 2019.
The total distance between Najafgarh and Dhansa Stand is 1.2
kilometres. The entire stretch is underground. While 700 metres will be
constructed using TBM, the rest will be done using the Cut and Cover technology
in which excavation is done for underground construction and then the area is
covered again.
This section is an extension of the 4.295 kilometre long
Dwarka – Najafgarh Metro corridor. The work for this section was formally
awarded in late 2017 and the target date for completion is December, 2020. On
the Dwarka – Najafgarh section, over 90 percent of construction work is
complete and passenger services are expected to start by September this year.
As part of its third phase of expansion, DMRC has
constructed close to 54 kilometres of underground sections, which is more than
the under underground corridors constructed in its first and second phases.
About 30 TBMs were put into use for carrying out such massive underground
tunnelling work. It was a tremendous engineering challenge since Delhi is an
extremely crowded city and tunnelling had to be done beneath centuries old
buildings and congested localities.
TBMs were introduced for the first time by DMRC during the
first phase of Metro construction. In Phase 2 of the Delhi Metro, 14 TBMs were
used while the Phase 3, the number of TBMs used was 30.
Delhi Metro currently operates on a network of 327
kilometres with 236 Metro stations. This network includes over a hundred
kilometres of underground lines spread across the national capital. For further
information please visit http://www.delhimetrorail.com/press_reldetails.aspx?id=KcoYg54nclyE0lld
