Tata Casts Chennai Metro Line 5 UG-06’s First Tunnel Segment

Tata Projects Ltd. (TPL) last Friday began pouring concrete to cast the first batch of tunnel ring segments for underground Package UG-06/RT-01 of Chennai Metro’s 44.6 km Line-5 which will connect Madhavaram and Sholinganallur via 45 stations.

TPL is responsible for constructing 116.1 km Chennai Metro Phase 2 project’s 5.8 km underground package UG-06 connecting Kolathur – Nathamuni. This section with twin tunnels and 5 underground stations is the only underground section of the entire line.

Tata’s casting yard for UG-06 is located in Chennai’s Perungavur neighborhood, near to Line-3 Package TU-01‘s casting yard – view on Google Maps.

Tata has partnered up with Korea Mould Co. Ltd. to supply segment casting accessories to their casting yard. From back of the hand calculations, I estimate they’ll churn out at least 5200 segments to build this section’s twin tunnels.

Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) had awarded Package UG-06’s Rs. 1445.98 crore civil construction contract to TPL in September 2023 with a deadline of 1395 days (3.8 years).

This section will consist of twin TBM-bored tunnels and 5 underground stations at Kolathur Junction, Srinivasa Nagar, Villivakkam Suburban Station (Villivakkam), Villivakkam Bus Terminus and Nathamuni (Villivakkam MTH Road).

Each reinforced concrete tunnel ring will be 1,400mm wide by 275mm thick, and consist of 5 segments + 1 smaller ‘key’ segment.

Tata is required to deploy at least 4 tunnel boring machines (TBMs) to build UG-06’s tunnels. The TBMs’ supplier remains unknown to me, but we should hear more in the coming months as and when factory acceptance tests (FAT) are conducted. If someone has more details, then leave a comment below or shoot me a message via the Contact page.

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– TMRG