MahaMetro speeds up tunneling work in Pune metro

MahaMetro has taken up tunneling work on the stretch between the College of Agriculture and Civil Court for the Pune Metro project. The machines, which are custom-made for the project by a Hong Kong-based company, are of the 'Earth Pressure Balance' variety, and can excavate up to 10 metres per day. Work is in full swing on the other elevated portions of the two corridors. Testing has already started on the Sant Tukaramnagar-Phugewadi stretch, informed newly appointed urban development minister in Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde. He added that the government will speed up work on expanding the Metro network in the city as he flagged off the second tunnel-boring machine (TBM) for the underground Metro stretch in the city recently. The second TBM that arrived in the city in December, has been pressed into service and another machine has already started excavating a parallel tunnel. Among others, metro rail projects will also be launched in cities like Nashik and Thane, after Pune and Nagpur.