The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor witnessed its fourth successful tunnel breakthrough in Meerut on Friday (17 March).
Tunnel boring machine Sudarshan 8.3 successfully completed the construction of about 750 metres long tunnel between Gandhibagh and Begumpul stations, and made a breakthrough on the tunnel retrieving shaft constructed at Begumpul station.
This is the second parallel tunnel between Gandhibagh and Begumpul, whose construction has been completed.
Sudarshan 8.3 had completed the work of the first tunnel between Gandhibagh and Begumpul in October last year. Two parallel tunnels are to be constructed for to-and-fro movement of trains in the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor.
After completion of this second parallel tunnel from Gandhibagh to Begumpul, the tunnel construction of this section is now complete.
This is the fourth successful tunnel breakthrough of the RRTS corridor in Meerut.
Earlier, work on the underground section between Bhainsali to Meerut Central Station was carried out, where Sudarshan 8.1 and 8.2 had completed the construction of entire parallel tunnels.
After completion of construction of two underground sections (four tunnels), work on both the parallel tunnels of the third and last underground section of Meerut is progressing.
Two parallel tunnels of 1 kilometre each are to be built between Bhainsali to Begumpul, out of which the construction of the first tunnel as started by Sudarshan 8.1 two weeks back.
For the construction of a second parallel tunnel between Bhainsali to Begumpul, the process of re-assembling the parts of Sudarshan 8.2 has started.
For Friday’s tunnel breakthrough, more than 3,500 precast segments were used for the construction of this 750 metre long tunnel built between Gandhibagh to Begumpul.
Casting of these tunnel segments is being done at NCRTC’s casting yard at Shatabdi Nagar, with assured quality control. Pre-casting helps in safe and speedy execution of works while ensuring quality control.
After the construction of the tunnel, the work of laying track inside the tunnel will start.
Along with this, the works of OHE and signalling etc will be done.
Precast track slabs are being manufactured at the track slab factory of Casting Yard, Shatabdi Nagar, Meerut.
These track slabs will be taken to the site of the tunnel through trucks-trailers and installed.
This work is being done at a fast pace in line with the scheduled opening of the entire corridor to the public by 2025.
Meerut Central, Bhaisali and Begumpul are three underground stations in Meerut, of which Meerut Central and Bhaisali are metro stations, while Begumpul station provides both RRTS and metro services.
NCRTC is going to provide Meerut Metro, the local transit services in Meerut on the RRTS network itself, which will have 13 stations in a distance of 21 km.
The 17-km long priority section of the 82 km long Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor is set to start operating trains for passengers soon.
This section includes Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai and Duhai Depot stations.