Civil works on Namma Metro’s Vellara Junction-Pottery Town 5.63-km underground stretch is likely to begin in about six months, reports Economic Times.
The Rs 2,628-crore project was awarded to Larsen & Toubro by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL).
According to the firm, L&T will have 42 months to complete tunneling at Vellara Junction, MG Road, Cantonment, Pottery Town and Shivajinagar stations.
According to the contract, L&T would deploy four Tunnel Boring Machines, priced at between Rs 50 crore and Rs 100 crore, depending on their type.
BMRCL earlier had a bitter experience completing the underground work of Phase I as contractors used “wrong Tunnel Boring Machines”. This delayed the completion by 2-3 years. It took about five years to tunnel a 10-km section.
“Bengaluru has a complex geology, which is a mix of rocks and boulders. Therefore, a proper study of the tunnelling medium is required before deploying the TBM,” said a scientist with the Department of Geophysics in the report.