CMRL is going to further develop the Chennai city metro rail network as part of Phase II with 3 new corridors of metro rail for a total length of 116.1 km with 119 metro stations: Corridor-3, from Madhavaram to Siruseri -SIPCOT, 45.8 km; Corridor-4, from Light House to Poonamalee Bypass, 26.1 km; Corridor-5, from Madhavaram to Sholinganallur, 47 km.
Corridor-3
Tata Projects Ltd mobilized 7 TBMs for the construction of the first 9 km underground section of Corridor 3 from Madhavaram Milk Colony to Kellys. Back in august 2023 the TBM Nilgiri (S96) which had previously launched on the 13.10.2022 from Madhavaram Milk Colony Station to Madavaram High Road completed the excavation of a 1.4km section and broke-through at Madhavaram High Road.
Corridor-4
Chennai Metro Rail Phase II Corridor 4 is a 26.1km east-west alignment connecting the beachfront from Light House station at Marina Beach to Poonamallee Depot, with 9 underground stations and 18 elevated stations. Corridor 4 the underground part stretches over 10 km, originating from the Lighthouse, and passing through Chennai's oldest areas like Mylapore, Kutchery Road to new and upmarket areas like Alwarpet, Bharatidasan, Boat Club, Panagal Park & Kodambakkam Flyover .
The underground section of this corridor is split into two packages (UG-01 & UG-02) containing 4 km of twin tunnels each. The CMRL’s contractor M/s ITD Cementation India Ltd will use four TBMs - manufactured by Herrenknecht and assembled at Herrenknecht India Pvt. Ltd (HAI) located at Chennai - in order to complete the approximately 16km of tunnelling, doing both Upline & Downline tunnels and its metro stations.
Two TBM’s namely Flamingo (S1352A) and Eagle (S1073B) will be launched at Light House and two TBM’s Peacock (S1074B) and Pelican (S1075B) will be launched at Panagal Park.
Back in September 2023 the TBM Flamingo – after it had been lowered in the south shaft-down line and in the presence of senior officials from CMRL, General Consultants, M/s AEON Consortium, and ITD Cementation - began the excavation of the first 1.96 km tunnel from Light House station to Thirumayilai Metro. TBM Flamingo will drive at a maximum depth of 30m below ground starting from Light House Station towards Kutchery Road and tentatively it will reach in Thirumayilai Station in 1 year and is expected to arrive at the retrieval shaft of Boat Club Station in May 2026.
At the beginning of August 4th and last TBM for the corridor 4, which is the 2nd TBM for UG-02 package has successfully passed the Factory Acceptance Test. It was carried out in the presence of R.Ranganathan, General Manager (Construction) CMRL along with various officials from General Consultants, M/s AEON Consortium at HK factory in Thiruvallur District, Ponneri Thaluk, Alinjivakkam village, Chennai. The name of this TBM EPB - 6.67 m diameter, 110 m long and 700 t weight - is S1075B. The machine will be dismantled in parts and packed and then it will be transported to its destination at Panagal Park Station, T Nagar.
The construction of the TBM launching shaft is under progress at Panagal Park Station and is expected to be ready to lower and assemble the TBM in October 2023. This TBM will be launched on the Downline of this corridor-4 and will drive at a maximum depth of 26 m below ground starting from the Boat Club, Nandanam, Panagal Park, Kodambkkam and finally scheduled to arrive at retrieval shaft after Kodambakkam Flyover in Sept 2024. For further on the project in tunnelbuilder archive click here and in/40. Visit https://chennaimetrorail.org. 36/23
