BANGALORE : Tunnel boring machine (TBM) Kaveri successfully broke through the southern side of Chickpet Underground Metro station on Friday evening.
It was welcomed by cheers, whistles and applause by Metro officials and workers.
Starting from the National College station, the TBM made its journey to KR Market station, finally reaching the Chickpet station. The tunnel adjacent to the one which achieved breakthrough on Friday, will achieve the same feat in the next six months, informed officials. “TBM Krishna has been put on the job,” said a BMRCL officials
BMRCL managing director Pradeep Singh Kharola said, “The credit for the breakthrough goes to the engineers and the workers who ensured that there was no untoward incident during the year-long tunnelling work and thankfully none of the buildings got damaged. The next stretch is crucial and again the machines have to go underneath,” he said.
When asked if there will be a delay in completion of Phase I, the BMRCL MD said they are on the job to ensure that there is no further delay.
The current breakthrough was achieved after almost one year. “Kaveri took more than a year to complete tunnelling about 432 metres from KR Market station to Chickpet. The machine will start digging again in another 45 days on the same North-South corridor to reach Majestic in about six to eight months,” an official said.