BENGALURU: The reason for repeated delays in completion of Metro’s Phase-I is mainly attributed to the difficulty in completing tunnelling along the underground corridors of North-South and East-West stretches which were said to have a very difficult terrain.
Tunnel Boring Machine ‘Krishna’ completed tunnelling between Chickpet and Kempegowda only as late as September 23, 2016.
In the Northern Corridor, ‘Godavari’ suffered severe wear and tear and its main part, the Cutter Head gave way. Tunnelling had to be stopped for a year from Sampige Road to Kempegowda Metro stations.
It finally completed its journey on April 19, 2016. Comparatively, ‘Margarita’ and ‘Kavery’ TBMs had a better run. Kavery machine caused a few cracks to houses in Balepet and had to halt operations for a brief period. A huge number of cutters on the cutter head too got damaged enroute and had to be replaced.