Delhi: Tunneling work complete, Metro Phase III to launch next year

The 1.25 km tunnel between Vasant Vihar and Munirka.

Following the completion of work on a 1.25 km-long tunnel between Vasant Vihar and Munirka on the Janakpuri-Botanical Garden Line late Monday evening, the Delhi Metro on Tuesday announced that it has completed the construction of all new tunnels, taking it closer to the launch of the entire Phase III project by September next year.

“The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has now completed one of the largest-ever tunneling projects taken up in any urban area across the world, where a record 30 TBMs were used to bore close to 80 km of underground tunnels. The total underground corridor length in Phase III, including the stations, is about 54 km,” an official DMRC statement read.

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“The quantum of underground work in Phase III can be gauged from the fact that in the last phase of Delhi Metro’s construction, only 35 km was underground, and in Phase I, the underground component was 13 km. Delhi Metro’s longest tunneling drive of 1.6 km from Ashram to Nizamuddin also falls on this section,” the statement read.

“Tunneling work on Janakpuri West–Botanical Garden and Majlis Park–Shiv Vihar lines had to face multiple challenges since
these corridors mostly pass below the arterial Outer Ring Road and Ring Road, which have heavy traffic round the clock,” the statement added.