The work on all the 26 underground stations and one at grade station has begun and 53 percent of the piling activity has been completed with 16,597 piles. (Representational Image)
The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) has completed approximately 15-16 per cent of the civil construction for the 33.5-km Metro 3 corridor. The work on the country’s longest underground metro corridor had begun in November 2016.
The first Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), named Krishna 1, began tunneling from the Nayanagar launching shaft near Dharavi on November 9 and has now bored through 120 metres. Meanwhile, six other TBMs, lowered in different parts of the city, have together completed 394 metres of tunneling so far. Seventeen TBMs will be working 15 to 25 metres underground to bore the 51-km tunnels.
Like Krishna, the TBMs in each of the seven packages are named after a river in Maharashtra — Surya, Vaitarna, Tanasa, Godavari, Tapi and Wainganga. Each package has a minimum two and maximum three TBMs in operation.
“It is better to refer to the machines by names than by numbers as they are more relatable. There is a more personal connect with the machines when they have a name. While naming we were only looking for names that are easy to recall and pronounce as everyone will now refer to them by these names,” SK Gupta, Director (Projects), MMRC, had earlier said.
Connecting Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ, the corridor is likely to be completed by December 2021. The first phase connecting Aarey Milk Colony to the airport will be operational by March 2021 while the second phase till Cuffe Parade will be ready by December.
The work involves manpower of around 7,600, including skilled and unskilled workers. “This is in addition to staff of the General Consultants (GC), MMRC personnel, managers and engineers of the civil contractors and various vendors working on the project,” said an MMRC spokesperson.
The work on all the 26 underground stations and one at grade station has begun and 53 percent of the piling activity has been completed with 16,597 piles.
As many as 1500 Project Affected People (PAPs) have been rehabilitated for the corridor set to be constructed at a cost of Rs 23,136 crore.
Meanwhile, two other elevated metro corridors are under construction in the suburbs – Dahisar West-DN Nagar Metro 2A and Dahisar East-Andheri East Metro 7. While construction for both the corridors began in November 2016, the Metro 2A has completed around 35 percent of the construction and Metro 7 has completed around 45 percent.
The project is being executed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). For the construction of the 18.5-km Metro 2A, 400 out of 957 piers have been erected and out of 1430 U-girders 215 have been erected. Meanwhile, 64 per cent of the piling activity has been completed. “While work on all the 17 stations are ongoing, we have begun laying girders for three stations in Goregaon, Malad and Borivali,” said a senior engineer from MMRDA.
Similarly, for the 16.5-km Metro 7 corridor, 227 of 709 piers have been erected and 198 of 1184 U-girders have been erected, apart from 73 per cent of the piling activity being completed. Here three stations are in advanced stage of construction in Aarey Colony, Mahanand and Magathane.
“Despite the challenges, the project is going on as per schedule. We have managed to remove at least 20-25 per cent of barricading in different places. Meanwhile, the tender process for the tracks is also going on and soon we should begin laying them,” said another senior engineer from MMRDA.