Kaveri TBM completes breakthrough at Chennai's Kilpauk Medical College Station

CHENNAI: The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) achieved tunnelling milestone in Phase-II Corridor-3 with the successful breakthrough of the downline Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) 'Kaveri' at Kilpauk Medical College (KMC) Station here on Tuesday. The 685-metre tunnel between Chetpet and KMC was executed by L&T.

The tunnelling operation, which commenced on September 6, 2025, was completed in 252 days.

During the drive, Kaveri negotiated five live Southern Railway tracks near Chetpet, the Chetpet Eco Park lake, buildings within Kilpauk Medical College and existing Phase-I Metro tunnels. The minimum clearance between the Phase-I and Phase-II tunnels was 6.1 metres.

CMRL said that the entire drive was completed without major ground settlement or adverse impact on existing infrastructure. Ten cutterhead interventions were carried out during the operation. The breakthrough is the ninth TBM breakthrough under this contract.

The upline TBM ‘Thamarabharani’ had achieved its breakthrough on November 26 last year.