Delhi Metro finishes tunneling work for Phase III

The Delhi Metro wrapped up the construction of new tunnels, moving closer to the launch of the Phase III project, expected to take place by September 2017.

The tunnels, measuring more than the existing operational length, have been constructed underneath the arterial Outer Ring Road and Ring Road. The last one, completed on Monday, is a 1.25km underground corridor between Vasant Vihar and Munirka on the Magenta Line (Janakpuri (W)-Botanical Garden line).

“With this tunnel breakthrough, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has completed one of the largest tunneling projects in the world taken up in any urban area. A record 30 tunnel boring machines (TBMs) were deployed to bore close to 80km of tunnels,” DMRC said in a statement.

For Phase III, the total underground corridor length, including the stations, will be about 54km, against the 35km of Phase II and 13km of Phase I. The new tunnels in the Magenta Line will pass below the operational elevated viaducts at three locations — Janakpuri (W), near the India Gandhi International (IGI) Airport and the Kalkaji Mandir. At Hauz Khas, it will go underneath the already operational Yellow Line tunnel.