CMRL Invites Bids for Chennai Metro Phase 2’s Line-3 Tunnels

Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) on Monday invited bids for the construction of roughly 42 kms of underground tunnels, under 2 civil packages, for the northern section of Chennai Metro’s new 45.81 km Line-3 connecting Madhavaram and SIPCOT under the 118.9 km Phase 2 project.

These tunnels on Line-3’s 26.7 km underground section will be built as part of a 52.01 km prioritized sub-project which will first see the development of Line-3 between Madhavaram – Sholinganallur and Line-5 between Madhavaram – CMBT. CEG – AECOM JV was appointed as the line’s detailed design consultant (DDC) in September 2018.

Package TU01 includes the construction of approximately 9 km twin bored tunnels (total = 18 km) from the TBM Retrieval Shaft near Venugopal Nagar (of Line-5) to Kellys Station, and the construction of diaphragm walls, entry/exit structures of Madhavaram Milk Colony Station, Murari Hospital Station, Ayanavaram Station and Purasaiwakkam High Road Station, including launching and retrieval shafts at the above stations.

Package TU02 includes the construction of approximately 12 km twin bored tunnels (total = 24 km) from Kellys Station to Taramani Road Junction and the construction of diaphragm walls, entry/exit structures of Chetpet station, Royapettah Government Hospital Station, Thiruvanmiyu Station, and part diaphragm wall of Greenways Road Station, including launching and retrieval shafts at the above stations.

Both packages primarily involve the construction of tunnels with some station work. Per industry sources, CMRL requires at least 7 tunnel boring machines (TBMs) to be deployed for building package TU01 and 8 TBMs for building package TU02.

Pre-bid meeting with interested contractors is scheduled to take place on January 30, 2020. The current last date & time for submission of bids is March 5 at 3 pm, and technical bids are planned to be opened on March 6 at 3 pm.

I’m in the middle of updating each city’s information page and maps. Until Chennai’s page for Phase 2 is completely ready, here’s CMRL’s official map with my edits & emphasis on highlighting the start & end locations of each package (Venugopal Nagar, Kellys & Taramani Road Junction) –

Line-3’s underground section: Venugopal Nagar – Kellys – Taramani Road Junction | Map via Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. includes my edits

The remaining 23 stations out of the 30 stations en-route are planned to be divided up into 4 civil packages of 5 stations and 1 civil package of 3 stations. Bids for them are expected to be invited in March 2020.

Further south of Taramani Road Junction, Line-3 will run in an elevated configuration with the development of Nehru Nagar – Sholinganallur (approx 9.5 km) also prioritized. Bids for that section are expected to be invited in May 2020.

Coming back to Line-3’s tunnels – the scope of these 2 packages is the most extensive and unlike any I’ve seen before for a metro project in India. If things go according to CMRL’s published schedule, then contractors can be expected to be finalized in Q3 2020, with tunneling work beginning in the summer of 2021.

For more updates, check out the Chennai section of The Metro Rail Guy!

– TMRG

written by

Global traveler who prefers mass rapid transit

9 Responses to "CMRL Invites Bids for Chennai Metro Phase 2’s Line-3 Tunnels"

  1. RASSLIN says:

    While PERAMBUR METRO STATION work is carried out hope it is connected with PERAMBUR RAILWAY STATION ALSO through under ground. Perambur railway station is the busiest station after central station on central – arakkonam route.Here Most of the express trains towards central and egmore stop here. All the feeder back services are closer to station . Here exit is very quick than central. Once the entire work is completed it will become major changeover hub between railways,metro and other feeder back services.

    Reply
  2. PN Badhri says:

    Corridor 4 is highly revenue collection project and need of the hour to reduce conjesion in traffic. But little importance by concerned authorities.

    Reply
  3. Manick says:

    With bids closing early March, why do they take until Q3 to finalize the Contractors? Should be around May/ June, the Contracts should be awarded. Yes, the tunneling start may be around summer 2021.

    Reply
  4. Jyothi Ramesh says:

    Is the corridor number 4 confirmed and when will they start the process of implementing this line

    Reply
  5. Utkarsh says:

    Any update on the latest GC tender result ?

    Reply
  6. senthil says:

    WHEN COME TO THIRUVALLUR

    Reply
  7. Suresh Kumar Gargi says:

    Why there’s no station for CHINMAYA NAGAR Which is a heavily populated area?

    Reply

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