New Delhi:
Spanning numerous residential areas and commercial centres in the national capital and a lifeline for commuters, the Delhi Metro on Tuesday kicked off tunnelling and boring work for a 3-km underground corridor to decongest the Rajiv Chowk station -- an interchange for two of its lines -- in Phase 3 of the rail network.
The decongestion will be achieved by linking two nearby stations -- Central Secretariat (on the Jahingirpuri-Huda City Centre [Gurgaon] line and one end of the Badarpur line) and Mandi House (Dwarka-Noida City Centre line), officials said.
Expected to decongest the bustling Rajiv Chowk metro station that caters to a large number of commuters during the peak hours, the Central Secretariat-Mandi House corridor will have two stations that will be ready by the end of 2014.
According to the metro officials, the corridor will take most of the passenger load from the Rajiv Chowk station which sees a footfall of at least 400,000 a day. Phase 3 would bring an additional 103 km of track under the metro network by 2016.
"Lowering of tunnel boring machines (TBMs) is an important event in Phase 3 of the Metro. We expect the use of at least 20-22 TBMs in Phase 3 as it is very safe," Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) managing director Mangu Singh said on Tuesday.
Lowered near the Chelmsford Club in central Delhi, the TBM has been brought from German company Herrenknecht and assembled in Chennai. The tunnelling work till Janpath will be completed by June 2012.
"In phase 3 we have completely avoided cut and cover method. TBM usage is preferred as it helps in tunnelling without causing any damage to the neighbouring buildings," Singh added.
The corporation said the TBMs would be used for boring in sensitive areas such as old Delhi which is home to monuments and buildings in congested space.
"I hope there are no problems in tunnelling. We assess the conditions of the buildings, get the feedback, and then start tunnelling in that area," Singh explained.
With the completion of Phase 3, the DMRC hopes to cover almost 70 percent of Delhi, including Jamia Millia Islamia University.