Delhi Metro starts work on kilometre-long tunnel

NEW DELHI: Delhi Metro today started the construction of a kilometre-long underground tunnel near Naraina Vihar on the Ring Road Metro stretch between Mayapuri and Delhi Cantonment.

A tunnel boring machine (TBM), with a special cutter head, capable of tunnelling through soil as well as rock, has been commissioned in this regard.

"DMRC MD Mangu Singh formally inaugurated the drive at the underground site in the presence of other Metro directors, the civil contractors on this stretch," a DMRC statement said.

The tunnelling will be carried out primarily under the thickly inhabited areas of the Naval Staff Quarters, Naraina Village and Naraina Vihar at a depth of 14.3 metres, it added.

This section forms a part of the 59-km-long Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar Metro corridor which is slated to be made operational in 2016. According to the detailed project report (DPR), the expected daily ridership at the Naraina Vihar Metro station is 13,831.