Tunnel boring machine (TBM) Nilagiri achieved breakthrough at Moolakadai station for package TU01 under the Chennai Metro Rail Phase II Project on August 6, 2026. It was commissioned at Madhavaram High Road station and travelled for 819 metres upline till the Moolakadai station.
This is the 24th tunnel breakthrough under the project and 11th breakthrough under the package TU01.
Package TU-01 involves construction of approximate 9 km long twin bored tunnels from TBM retrieval shaft near Venugopal Nagar metro station to Kellys 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.
The project involves development of 118.9 km three metro corridors (Corridor III, IV and V) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu at an estimated cost of Rs 632.46 billion. It is mostly underground with an elevated section confined to a few short stretches and consists of 128 stations in total.