One more Mumbai Metro tunnel digger on the way, work begins in November

The tunnelling work for a 4.5km section between Azad Maidan and Grant Road of the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro-3 underground corridor will commence by early November.

The tunnelling work for a 4.5km section between Azad Maidan and Grant Road of the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro-3 underground corridor will commence by early November. The tunnel boring machine (TBM) for the section has been shipped from China and would be arriving in Mumbai next week, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation officials (MMRC) said.

The Tunnel Boring Machine at Mumbai Port. (HT)

The tunneling work for package 2 of the project will start from the Azad Maidan launching shaft. The TBM for the section will arrive in this week and the work there is expected to start by early November,” said SK Gupta, director (projects), MMRC.

This will be the second TBM being brought for the Metro-3 work. Last week, the MMRC received its first TBM from China, and the machine will be used for boring a 6.10km tunnel between Dharavi and Siddhivinayak Metro station. In all, 17 TBMs will be deployed at 11 launching sites across the 33.5km alignment between October and February next year.

Several old and dilapidated structures dot the proposed alignment of the section along with heritage structures. Last month, Hindustan Times reported that the structural health of some buildings in the Girgaum-Kalbadevi area has not been found to be satisfactory in a detailed survey. A pre-construction building condition survey revealed that few of the buildings in the area fall under ‘severe’ category of damage degree, while some others fall under ‘moderate’ category.

The residents of these buildings are a worried lot and fear that tunnelling could lead to collapse of their buildings. However, Gupta dismissed these fears and said, “This is the fear of the unknown. These are unfounded fears; I would like to assure people that they should not have any such worries. The MMRC will take precaution while carrying tunnelling activities,” Gupta assured.

Apart from south Mumbai, the tunnelling work at Vidyanagari (Kalina, Santacruz east) will start by in November followed by Pali ground at Andheri east in November and Cuffe Parade sometime in February.