Chennai Metro’s Tunnel Boring Machine Breaks Through Chetpet Lake

Chennai Metro Rail tunnel boring machine (TBM), Thamirabarani, broke through Chetpet Lake and Chetpet suburban railway station without any issue and will arrive at the Kilpauk Medical College (KMC) station in September this year. This is a key milestone for Phase II of the Chennai Metro project, which will have an overall length of 118.9 km.

The area where Thamirabarani is operating is Corridor 3 with a total length of 45.8 km.

It runs through notable points like Madhavaram, Chetpet, Nungambakkam, Mylapore, Adyar, and Siruseri. The new corridor will link these areas better and is perceived to decongest these highly packed areas of the city.

The Kilpauk and Chetpet stations have been planned to provide multi-modal integration.

So far, the TBM has bored through about 260 metres of the 677-metre run between KMC and Chetpet. Once it was commissioned, it broke through under the Chetpet suburban station for the first time after 41 days of boring. Throughout this phase, the Southern Railway placed speed restrictions on long-distance trains and kept their speed at 40 km/h as a precaution. The machine bored at a depth of 18 metres under the ground.

Crossing the Chetpet Lake proved to be a significant challenge, with the TBM drilling at a depth of 17 metres for 43 days. This process was slow but necessary to ensure safety and precision.

Residents, like Suhasini Fredrick, are excited about the convenience the new metro line will bring. Fredrick, who lives on Harrington Road, notes that the metro will cut her travel time drastically, particularly for trips to Madhavaram and Adyar. She also highlighted the benefits for commuters traveling to the IT corridor and ECR.

The final stretch to KMC has faced some delays due to issues in building the station shaft, exacerbated by a cancelled tender from a few years ago. However, once completed, the new line will offer a major boost to Chennai’s public transport system.