Chennai: Metro rail completed its first tunnel between two stations - Washermenpet and Mannadi - on Wednesday. It took five and a half months to bore the 1.3km tunnel, which is part of the Washermenpet-Airport corridor along Anna Salai.
The tunnel stretches under 750 buildings as it is one of those few stretches where tunnel is not under a main road. Tunnelling began on October 1, 2012 from Washermenpet. The machine, which worked at an average speed of 12m per day, touched a speed of 54.6m in one of the days, fixing 39 concrete rings. So far 958 rings, which act as the roof and the walls, have been fixed along the stretch. Metro rail will now lay tracks and install other facilities. Tunnelling is underway to build a parallel tunnel along the same stretch to lay a second line. The second tunnel has reached 205 metres.
15/03/13 Times of India
