Metro South Line trials by September: BMRCL

June 09, 2016 12:00 am | Updated October 18, 2016 02:12 pm IST - Bengaluru:

KARNATAKA - BENGALURU - 08/06/2016 : Namma Metro workers celebrating the breakthrough of tunnel boring machine (TBM) Kaveri at Majestic, inter-change station, after tunnelling between Chikpete and Kempegowda station, on Namma metro Green line on North-South corridor, completing the link between the northern Reaches 3, 3A and 3B with the southern Reach 4  and 4A., by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL), in Bengaluru on June 08, 2016. BMRCL officials said that the track laying work is expected to be completed in two months’ time after which trials will begin in mid-September.   Photo: K. Murali Kumar.

KARNATAKA - BENGALURU - 08/06/2016 : Namma Metro workers celebrating the breakthrough of tunnel boring machine (TBM) Kaveri at Majestic, inter-change station, after tunnelling between Chikpete and Kempegowda station, on Namma metro Green line on North-South corridor, completing the link between the northern Reaches 3, 3A and 3B with the southern Reach 4 and 4A., by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL), in Bengaluru on June 08, 2016. BMRCL officials said that the track laying work is expected to be completed in two months’ time after which trials will begin in mid-September.   Photo: K. Murali Kumar.

Namma Metro cleared a major milestone on Wednesday when the Kaveri Tunnel-Boring Machine, working northwards from Chikpet, reached the Kempegowda station around 5 p.m.

Clear path

This will clear the path to connect the North-South Line linking Sampige Road station in the north with Chikpet station in the South Line. The breakthrough also means Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation will soon be able to begin trials once the tracks are ready.

‘One of the toughest’

Speaking at the venue of the TBM breakthrough, BMRCL Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola said, “This stretch has been one of the toughest because of hard rock. This is a major achievement. We will start the track-laying work now, which we expect to complete in two months.” This means trial runs on this stretch (National College - Puttenahalli) will begin by mid-September. Mr. Kharola said with a bit of luck, trials for the entire North South line (Green Line) too could begin by September.

The Godavari TBM, drilling from Sampige Road to Kempegowda station completed the tunnelling in April and track-laying work for this tunnel is already in progress.

TOUGH JOB

Kaveri started work in February 2015

Distance covered: 1.7 km

Hard and soft rock mixed strata led to slow tunnelling

Reach 4, 4A trials by mid-September

GREEN LINE

25 stations total

13 stations operational

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