PUNE: One of the tunnel-boring machines (TBMs) excavating the underground Metro corridor achieved another milestone, when it reached the Budhwar Peth station site located in Kasba Peth.
The TBM started excavating this stretch from the Civil Court station site four months ago and in the process, tunnelled under the Mutha river.
Another TBM, excavating a parallel tunnel, is likely to reach this site in the next few days. Both TBMs are set to cover around 678 metres each. Two tunnels are being excavated — one each on the up and down lines on this route. A MahaMetro official said they faced no major hurdles during the excavation between Civil Court and Budhwar Peth stations.
“It is an important milestone. MahaMetro is pulling out all the stops in a bid to introduce the Metro service for the city’s residents at the earliest. The work on the elevated and underground portions of the Metro corridors has been expedited,” Brijesh Dixit, managing director of MahaMetro, said.
The Metro will run underground from the College of Agriculture to Swargate stretch. Of the 12km underground work (including the up and down tunnels), MahaMetro said it has so far completed 7km of work. A total of three TBMs have been deployed for excavation of tunnels. A third TBM has started tunnelling from Swargate towards Mandai, an official said.
The official said, “We have completed tunnelling work in the Shivajinagar-Civil Court. Now, the excavation in the Civil Court-Budhwar Peth stretch will be completed soon.”
The official said excavating under the river was the trickiest part. “The machine dug a tunnel 33 metres underground,” the official said.
MahaMetro also sped up construction of all five stations in the underground stretch.
“MahaMetro is working out a plan to extract the TBMs post-excavation. Various options are being explored as to how the rest of the excavation work in the Budhwar Peth-Swargate stretch can be completed at the earliest,” the official added.
