Tata Relaunches Chennai Metro Phase 2’s TBM S98 Towards Kellys
Tata Projects Ltd. (TPL) this weekend commissioned tunnel boring machine (TBM) S98 for its third drive from Purasaiwakkam Station of the 116.1 km Chennai Metro Phase 2 project.
Nicknamed TBM Anaimalai, this Ø6.61m diameter Terratec Earth Pressure Balance (EPB) machine was originally launched from 45.8 km Line-3’s Madhavaram Milk Colony Station’s north shaft in February 2023. It travelled 415m to record its first breakthrough in June 2023 for the up-line at Venugopal Nagar Station.
The machine was then dismantled, retrieved, and recommissioned from Ayanavaram Station’s south shaft in October 2023 from where it travelled 925 meters in 8 months to arrive at Otteri Station’s north shaft in June 2024.
The machine has now been recommissioned for its third drive from Purasaiwakkam Station to Kellys Station, for a short distance of roughly 280 meters.
Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) had awarded Tata Projects Ltd. with Package TU-01’s Rs. 1999 crore contract in May 2021 with a 42 month deadline.
TBM Anamalai along with 6 other TBMs will build approximately 9 km twin tunnels (total 18 km) on Line-3’s Venugopal Nagar – Kellys underground section. The scope also includes construction of diaphragm walls, entry/exit structures of Madhavaram Milk Colony Station, Murari Hospital Station, Ayanavaram Station and Purasaiwakkam High Road Station.
Tata Projects has so far completed building 5 tunnels for Package TU-01. 4 of those connect Venugopal Nagar – Madhavaram Milk Colony – Madhavaram High Road stations on the north side, a length of roughly 2.5 km including station boxes.
Here’s a recap of all tunnel breakthroughs recorded so far. I hear the next tunnel breakthrough will be recorded by TBM S81 from Ayanavaram to Otteri (898m), so stay tuned!
- June 2023: TBM S98 (Anaimalai) at Venugopal Nagar – 415m
- August 2023: TBM S96 (Nilgiri) at Madhavaram High Road – 1.4 km
- September 2023: TBM S99 (Servarayan) at Venugopal Nagar – 415m
- November 2023: TBM S97 (Podhigai) at Madhavaram High Road – 1.4 km
- June 2024: TBM S98 (Anaimalai) at Otteri Station – 925m
On the south-side, L&T has so far recorded one breakthrough for Line-3 on Package TU-02 (Kellys to Taramani Road Junction):
- August 2024: TBM DZ1040 (Siruvani) at Sterling Road – 703m
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– TMRG
Hey TMRG, I know that this isn’t your core area of interest and you may not be tracking this in detail, but this article may be something right up your alley…
https://www.deccanherald.com/india/mizoram/taller-than-qutub-minar-pier-constructed-to-put-mizoram-capital-on-railway-map-3166106
Cheers
Interesting! Another follower recently shared this cool video which shows the transition from ballasted to ballastless tracks inside the tunnel:
https://youtu.be/M1XbXSDwgyA?si=IpYUjCBM1DdSrMUK
Feel free to share anything and everything 🙂
When did starts tunnel work at villivakkm metro
I’m trying to ascertain status of Tata’s other machines, will post an update above (or in a new post) when I do
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Can you make a post for all the published opening dates for Phase 2. So far, I have only heard end of ’25 for Poonamallee to Porur, mid of ’26 for Porur till Kodambakkam, and end of ’27 for Kodambakkam till Light House. https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/metro-rails-light-house-to-poonamallee-corridor-likely-to-be-opened-by-end-of-2027/article67807578.ece
Haven’t heard of any news for the other stretches.