NCRTC initiates work for 11.5 km tunnel of RRTS corridor
The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) has started assembling machines for building an 11.5km underground section of the regional rapid rail transit system (RRTS) corridor. The underground tunnel will be laid from New Ashok Nagar in Delhi up to Sahibabad, covering about 4.5km, while the remainder will be in Meerut. Unlike the tunnel work undertaken by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), this will present an engineering challenge owing to the high speed of the rapid rail, informed chief public relations officer, NCRTC, Puneet Vats. The tunnel will start near New Ashok Nagar covering a distance of about 2.5km till Anand Vihar, 2km on the Ghaziabad side from Kaushambi to Sahibabad near Country Inn Hotel, and about 7km in Meerut from Bhaisali to MES Colony. The construction of launching shafts is progressing rapidly in Anand Vihar and Bhaisali in Meerut. The diaphragm wall (D-wall) panels have been lowered and concreted in these shafts. D-wall acts as a shield or frame to balance the earth pressure, thereby reducing the possibility of soil collapse and also prevents water seepage during excavation. Two TBMs will be lowered in these shafts to bore the RRTS twin tunnels from Anand Vihar towards Sarai Kale Khan. It will be the longest tunnel section between any two stations. An air ventilation shaft will also be constructed in this section for ensuring safety of passengers during an emergency. Meanwhile, on the 17km priority Sahibabad to Duhai section, work is in full swing and officials are confident that a trial run will start by the middle of this year.
