Meerut Witnesses Third Tunnel Breakthrough On Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS Corridor

The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor witnessed its third successful breakthrough in Meerut on 7 February (yesterday).

The tunnel boring machine (TBM), Sudarshan 8.2, has successfully completed the construction of this 2-km long tunnel between Bhainsali and Meerut Central, and made a breakthrough from the tunnel retrieving shaft built at Meerut Central Station.

This is the third tunnel of RRTS corridor in Meerut, which has been successfully completed. About one and a half months ago, Sudarshan 8.1 completed the construction of the first tunnel from Bhainsali to Meerut Central Station.

It is noteworthy that two parallel tunnels are constructed for the movement of trains in the underground sections.

With the completion of the construction of the second parallel tunnel from Bhainsali to Meerut Central, the underground part of this section is now complete.

In Meerut, the first successful breakthrough was achieved in October 2022, where Sudarshan 8.3 constructed the tunnel from Gandhibagh to Begumpul.

Presently the Sudarshan 8.3 is constructing the second parallel tunnel from Gandhibagh to Begumpul.

In the coming weeks, both the TBMs — Sudarshan 8.1 and Sudarshan 8.2 — which have completed tunnel construction from Bhainsali to Meerut Central, will be reassembled for parallel tunnel construction between Bhainsali and Begumpul.

With the breakthrough of 2 km long second parallel tunnel from Bhainsali to Meerut Central, National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) has achieved another milestone of the project. The track laying inside this tunnel will commence soon.

More than 9,000 pre-cast segments have been used for the construction of this 2-km long tunnel from Bhainsali to Meerut Central.

In the tunnelling process, these segments are inserted and seven segments are combined to make one ring. Each segment is 1.5 m long and 275 mm thick.

These segments and rings are connected with the help of bolts. Due to the bigger rolling stock and a high design speed of 180 kmph, the diameter of the RRTS tunnels being constructed is 6.5 m.

Compared to the metro systems, this is for the first time that a tunnel of such a large size is being constructed in the country.

The tunnel segments are being cast at NCRTC's casting yard in Shatabdi Nagar with assured quality control.

Pre-casting helps in the safe and fast execution of the works while ensuring good quality control, minimising inconvenience to the road users, local passers-by, business owners and residents along the entire stretch, and reduction in air pollution and noise pollution.

The project is being implemented as per the scheduled timeline. Meerut Central, Bhaisali, and Begumpul are the underground stations in Meerut, out of which Meerut Central and Bhaisali are the Meerut Metro Stations whereas Begumpul Station will serve as both RRTS and Metro.

NCRTC is going to provide local transit services, Meerut Metro, on the RRTS network itself in Meerut with 13 stations in the span of 21 km for local transit needs.