Tunnel boring machine (TBM) S81B has achieved its first tunnel breakthrough at Otteri station for package TU-01 under the Chennai metro rail project phase II.
It was commissioned at Ayanavaram station in July 2023 and travelled for 903 metres upline till Otteri station.
Package TU-01 involves construction of approximately 9 km long twin bored tunnels from the TBM retrieval shaft near Venugopal Nagar metro station to Kelly metro station and construction of diaphragm walls of station box and entry/exit structures of Madhavaram Milk Colony, Murari hospital, Ayanavaram and Purasaiwakkam high road stations, including launching and retrieval shafts as required in the above metro stations. Tata Projects Limited was awarded the contract for the same in May 2021.
Further, the Chennai metro rail project involves development of 118.9-km three metro corridors (corridor III, IV and V) in Tamil Nadu. It is mostly underground with elevated sections confined to a few short stretches and consists of 128 stations in total. The works on corridors I and II have been completed under Chennai metro phase I.