Chennai Metro Rail Project – Activities progressing as per schedule
Posted on: 16/May/2014 2:25:23 PM
Metro Rail Projects officials have expressed their satisfaction on the progress of the project in different sections.
If this brisk progress is maintained, the officials are confident that metro rail service would be opened before the end of next year.
Presently, metro rail project work is in rapid progress at Washermanpet, Pachaiyappa’s College, and Shenoy Nagar
There are 2 corridors in the project.
The first corridor is between Washermanpet & Chennai Airport covering stations at Washermanpet – Mannadi – High Court – Central railway Station – Government Garden – LIC - Gemini – Teynampet – Chamier’s Road - Saidapet.
The second corridor is between Central Railway Station & St. Thomas Mount covering stations at Chennai Central – Egmore – Nehru Park – Kilpauk Medical College – Pachaiyappa’s College – Shenoy Nagar – Anna Nagar East – Anna Nagar Tower - Thirumangalam.
The project covers a distance of 24 km underground through tunnels, which is the longest distance covered in India.
The tunnelling work
22 giant boring machines are used for tunnelling work. Companies from Brazil, China, and Hong Kong are participating in this work.
The tunnels will be 20 metres below the ground level. The diameter of the tunnel is 6.2 metres. The material from tunnelling work such as rock & sand will be removed by conveyor belts.
There is a provision to build concrete layers of 0.4 metre thickness as and when the tunnelling is through. This helps prevent falling of sand from the sides during tunnelling.
As the tunnelling is of 6.2 metre diameter, the floor level on the path will be at 10higher. This protects the existing pipes and fittings installed for drinking water & sewage drains systems.5 to 6 metres of tunnelling is done every day.
Tunnelling work is done only for 15 days during a month. The rest period is used for the maintenance of the giant boring machines.
Total Security
- Metro rail project managers have assured that complete security facilities will be provided for the passengers.
- There will be telephone facility every 100’. Similarly, there will be fire-fighting equipment at every 100’. There will be a facility to quickly arrest any type of accidents including fire accidents.
- Emergency exits are provided at every 250 metres distance.
- In case of any emergency, the passengers can get down from the train and walk to the nearest emergency exits provided at every 250 km. They can reach the nearest station by walking through the tunnel.
- Latest technology has been employed in order that there will be minimum disturbance in case of some natural disasters such as earthquakes. CCTV comers will be installed throughout the tunnels for monitoring the happenings.
