3rd TBM of Corridor 4 of Chennai Metro Phase 2 passes Factory Acceptance Test

Chennai, India (Metro Rail Today): The third Tunnel Boring Machine (S1352A) of Chenani Metro's Corridor 4 (Light House to Poonamalee Bypass) has successfully passed the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) today. 

The Factory Acceptance Test of 3rd Tunnel Boring Machine of the corridor which is 2nd TBM for UG-01 package was done in presence of CMRL’s officials and various officers from General Consultants, AEON Consortium at HK factory in Thiruvallur District, Ponneri Thaluk, Alinjivakkam village, Chennai.

The name of this Tunnel Boring Machine is Flamingo (S1352A) which is a 6.670 M bore diameter and 110 m long Earth Pressure Balance Machine. The total weight of this machine is approximately 700 MT which will now be dismantled in parts, packed and transported to its destination at Light House Station, Marina Beach.

These Tunnel Boring Machines manufactured by reputable German company M/s Herrenknecht, a pioneer in the production of TBMs for various types of the tunneling needs, will be used by CMRL’s contractor ITD Cementation India Limited.

The construction of the TBM launching Shaft is under progress at Light House Station and is expected to be ready to lower and assemble the TBM in the month of August 2023.

This TBM will be launched in Downline of this corridor-4 and will mine at a maximum depth of 29 m below ground starting from Light House, Kutchery Road, Thirumaylai, Alwarpet, Bharatidasan and finally scheduled to arrive at Boat Club in Nov 2025.

Corridor-4 (From Light House to Poonamalee Bypass) — 26.1 KM. Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has been implementing the construction of underground metro rail project corridor 4 from Light House Station at Marina Beach to Kodambakkam Flyover. The underground section of this corridor is split into two packages (UG-01 & UG-02) each of which contains 4 KM of twin tunnels. In order to complete the approximately 16KM of tunnelling, four Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) have been proposed to execute the entire tunnelling of approximately 16 KM considering both Upline & Downline tunnels.