CMRL begins tunnelling from Panagal Park Station to Boat Club
According to a press note, Peacock has already completed a 2-km drive from Panagal Park to Kodambakkam Ramp Retrieval Shaft near Meenakshi College at Arcot Road. This TBM will go under the existing Metro line near Nandanam station.
CHENNAI: The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has launched the tunnel boring machine (TBM) Peacock for the underground stretch from Panagal Park to Boat Club for the Corridor 4 (Lighthouse to Poonamallee bypass) underground tunnelling package 2 (UG-02) on Friday.
According to a press note, Peacock has already completed a 2-km drive from Panagal Park to Kodambakkam Ramp Retrieval Shaft near Meenakshi College at Arcot Road. This TBM will go under the existing Metro line near Nandanam station.
After that, Peacock was dismantled and transported back to Panagal Park, where it was reassembled for its second new drive of 1,898 m towards Boat Club Station. It is the first machine to be launched for constructing one of the twin tunnels in this section.
This drive consists of significant engineering challenges including tunnelling beneath the existing operational Phase 1 Metro tunnels near Nandanam Metro Station. The alignment reaches a depth of up to 30.2 m (100 feet) below ground level.
Peacock has been launched on the down line of Corridor 4 and will advance from Panagal Park towards Nandanam before reaching the retrieval shaft at Boat Club station. It’s expected to be completed by November 2026.
R Ranganathan, general manager (Construction), CMRL, C Murugamoorthy, team leader, General Consultants, and officials from CMRL were present during the event.
CMRL is in the process of implementing the Phase 2 project across the city with 3 corridors for 118.9 km with 128 Metro stations. Corridor 4 from Light House to Poonamallee Bypass (26.1 km) includes a significant underground section from Light House station at Marina Beach to Kodambakkam Flyover, which has been divided into 2 construction packages – UG-01 and UG-02 – each comprising nearly 4 km of twin tunnels.
To complete approximately 16 km of total tunnelling in both directions, four TBMs with an excavated diameter of 6.67 m have been deployed, added the release.