1.2 km of Metro 3 tunnels completed

Mumbai: The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) on Monday said 1.2 km of tunnelling had been completed along various sections of the Metro 3 corridor. Eight tunnel boring machines (TBM) have been lowered at four sites: Azad Maidan, Naya Nagar near Mahim, Vidyanagri at Kalina and Marol Naka.

The Naya Nagar site has made the most progress, tunneling 492 meters so far. The first TBMs were lowered at the site in November last year. The TBMs will construct a 2.5-km tunnel up to Dadar Metro station. The Azad Maidan site, from where tunnels are being constructed to Grant Road, has completed 330m. At Marol Naka, TBMs have tunneled 295m, while 150m of tunnelling has been done towards the domestic airport from Vidyanagari.

Ashwini Bhide, managing director, MMRCL, said, “After introducing our first TBM in November last year, it is indeed a milestone to have successfully completed more than 1,200m of tunnelling with eight machines. With 14 TBMs already having completed Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT), we are hoping to have all 17 of them running by July 2018.”