Delhi Metro Phase 3 – December 2015 Tunneling Update

Here’s a comprehensive list of Delhi Metro’s Phase 3 tunnels and their current progress as of December 1 2015! For my November 2015 post, please see the November 2015 Tunneling Update. Beneath each table, I’ve included additional notes with information. In case you’re unaware of Delhi’s geography or need a map to help visualize what goes where, then you can refer to the Delhi Metro Rail Corp’s map located here.

A tunnel built for the Violet line in Phase 2 – Photo Copyright: Anindito Mukherjee

According to the footnotes on the DMRC’s Phase 3 map, 48.06 km of the 190 km Phase 1 & 2 network is underground. In Phase 3, 53.835 km of the 159.327 km will be underground.

Phase 3 includes a total of 40 sections of which 38 have/will be built using a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM). That’s a total of 76 tunneling drives. The other 2 sections not being constructed by a TBM are:

1) The Kalkaji Mandir – Lotus (Bahá’í) Temple shaft on the Magenta line has been constructed using the New Austrian Tunneling method (NATM) which has previously been used to tunnel underneath the Ridge for the Airport Express line and beneath Chawri Bazar and Saket for the Yellow line

2) The Nizamuddin Station to Ring Road shaft is being constructed by the cut and cover method – see Google Earth satellite imagery. In my November update, I had accidentally marked this as a TBM section. Apologies for that!

Here’s a line wise update on different sections:

Blue Line – Line 3 – Dwarka – Najafgarh extension

This section was a late addition to Phase 3. The Letter of Acceptance to the contractor was given on 11.04.2014 with a completion deadline of 20.04.2017. Tunneling on the westbound tunnel began on November 2 – see: Delhi Metro Starts Tunneling on Najafgarh Branch of the Blue Line. Construction is progressing on schedule.

Violet Line – Line 6 – Central Secretariat to Kashmere Gate

• The Central Secretariat to Mandi House section was opened for commercial operations on June 26, 2014. A further extension northward to the ITO station was opened on June 8, 2015.
• Since my November update, zero breakthroughs have been made between Delhi Gate & Jama Masjid. 
• Between Lal Qila (Red Fort) and Kashmere Gate, 1 TBM made a breakthrough on August 3 while a second breakthrough is expected to be made later this month.

CC-05 had a deadline of 29.07.15 while CC-07 had a deadline of 12.09.15, so overall construction on the Violet line is running at least half a year behind schedule.

Pink Line – Line 7 – Mukundpur – Shiv Vihar

• Since my November update, a second breakthrough has been made between South Ex and Lajpat Nagar. With that, the tunnels between Vinobhapuri to Sarojini Nagar have been completed!
• Tunneling on the westbound tunnel from the RK Puram shaft to Bhikaji Cama Place will begin in mid December.
• A second breakthrough at Sarojini Nagar from Bhikaji Cama Place is expected to take place in January.

Overall, construction is largely on schedule, but the northern section between the Majlis Park shaft and Azadpur is running behind by a year and a half due to difficult tunneling conditions. Even if this section was completed today, land acquisition issues on the elevated section at Punjabi Bagh and Mayapuri would prevent the rest of the sections from opening up, so any potential delay that gets “realized” in early 2016 cannot entirely be blamed on this section.

Magenta Line – Line 8 – Janakpuri W – Botanical Garden

• Apart from small sections at Saddar Bazaar & Shankar Vihar, the entire line is underground in south-west and south Delhi. The south-eastern section beyond Modi Mills is elevated.
• The Kalkaji Mandir – Lotus (Bahá’í) Temple shaft has been constructed using the New Austrian Tunneling method (NATM). For some cool images of it shot during construction, see: NATM Tunnel at Kalkaji in Delhi Almost Complete
• Since my November update, zero breakthroughs have been made on this line. This month, the first breakthrough between Panchsheel Park and Chirag Delhi is expected to be made and tunneling will begin between Chirag Delhi and Greater Kailash in early January.

Overall, the construction of this line is progressing on schedule as the contractors for CC-23 & CC-27 have a deadline of 18.05.2016 & 11.05.2016 respectively.

If you have any questions or need specific TBM launch/breakthrough  info, then please leave a comment below!

For more updates on Delhi Metro’s Phase III, check out the Delhi section of The Metro Rail Guy!

– TMRG