Mumbai Metro-3 work sees light at end of second tunnel

The 568-m tunnel will be completed on Wednesday. Work on it began in August.

Three months after the first tunnel of the 33.5km Metro-3 (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) was completed, the second tunnel is due to completed on Wednesday. With this, the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) will complete approximately 15km of tunneling in the city.

The 568-metre tunnel, extending from the Sariput Nagar launching shaft to the Seepz station, will be completed in 125 days. (Photo By Praful Gangurde) (Praful Gangurde)

The 568-metre tunnel, extending from the Sariput Nagar launching shaft to the Seepz station, will be completed in 125 days. The work on the tunnel had commenced on August 23.

According to officials, the tunnel boring machine (TBM) Wainganga 2, covered a distance of approximately 10 metres per day. The 17 TBMs used for the project have been named after rivers in the state. The tunnel is a part of a 4.15-km package, with three proposed underground stations – MIDC, Marol Naka and Seepz.

SK Gupta, director (projects), MMRC, said, “This is the second milestone for tunnel breakthrough. These achievements mark the completion of individual components of the work and facilitate the next stage of activities.”

The first tunnel was completed in September. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had called it a “historic” moment. The 1.26-km tunnel between Pali ground in Marol, Andheri (East) and the International airport terminal T2 was completed in 259 days.

The fully underground line connecting south Mumbai’s Colaba to Seepz in the western suburbs is touted to change the face of public transportation once operational.

It is Mumbai’s costliest Metro route and also called India’s longest underground rail stretch.

MMRC, which is executing the first and only fully underground line in the city, is expecting to complete 80% of the tunneling work by December 2019. The line will be partly operational starting 2021.