The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) on Saturday achieved its first tunnel breakthrough for the Delhi section of the Delhi – Ghaziabad – Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor.
The Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), Sudarshan 4.1 made the breakthrough from the tunnel retrieval shaft constructed at Khichdipur, Delhi.
Manoj Joshi, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs initiated the breakthrough by pushing the lever in the presence of NCRTC Managing Director Vinay Kumar Singh.
The Directors and other senior officials of NCRTC and contractors were also present on the occasion.
The first TBM of Delhi section, ‘Sudarshan 4.1’, was lowered at the Anand Vihar launching shaft in January 2022 for the construction of RRTS tunnels between Anand Vihar and Khichdipur.
This RRTS tunnel is the longest tunnel in Delhi made by any Tunnel Boring Machine and is about 3 kilometres long.
RRTS tunnels have a diameter of 6.5 metre which is highly optimised as compared to global benchmarks of tunnels for similar design speed of 180 Kmph with wider and higher rolling stock.
A total of four tunnels are being constructed in Delhi for the 82-kilometre Delhi – Ghaziabad – Meerut RRTS corridor for to and from movement in both directions.
Two parallel tunnels of about 3 kilometers long between Anand Vihar to Khichdipur towards New Ashok Nagar RRTS station and about 2 kilometer long parallel tunnels from Anand Vihar to Vaishali towards Sahibabad RRTS Station.
This is the first tunnel which has been completed in the Delhi section from Anand Vihar to Khichdipur. The other TBM ‘Sudarshan 4.2 has completed tunnelling of about 2.5 kilometer in the same direction.
On the other hand, Sudarshan 4.3 and 4.4 are boring tunnels in the direction of Sahibabad from Anand Vihar and have completed the construction of more than 1.5 kilometres and 1 kilometre respectively.
Speaking on the occasion, Joshi, while congratulating NCRTC said, “RRTS is aimed to ease regional mobility in NCR thereby reducing vehicular congestion on roads and lowering air pollution. Multi-modal integration has been one important consideration while planning and implementing RRTS.’
To construct this 3 kilometer long RRTS tunnel, more than 14000 high-preciion pre-casted tunnel segments have been used which will ensure a long tunnel life. The Tunnel Segments of Delhi section are being casted at NCRTC’s Casting Yard established at Karkardooma, Delhi.
NCRTC is targeting to commission the entire 82 km long Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut for the public by 2025. Before that, it will operationalise a 17-km long Priority Section between Sahibabad and Duhai shortly, before the scheduled time.