Controlled blasting to begin soon at Agriculture College

Controlled blasting to begin soon at Agriculture College

Pune: Officials of MahaMetro on Friday said that it would take around three more years to complete the work of five kilometre underground metro from Shivajinagar to Swargate.

To expedite the work of undergroung metro, the officials have already started the shaft work at Agriculture College and Swargate. The depot for Pimpri to Swargate route is planned at Agriculture College.

MahaMetro officials had organised a site visit at Agriculture College and Swargate for mediapersons on Friday. Officials have set a time period of 40 months to complete the work. The underground metro will house five stations including Shivajinagar, Civil Court, Budhwar Peth, Mandai and Swargate. Speaking about the progress of ongoing work, Atul Gadgil, Executive Director of the Pune Metro project said that construction of shaft has already started at Swargate and Agriculture College. “The metro route is changing from elevated to underground from Range Hills to Shivajinagar and therefore there is work going on at Agriculture College. The work of constructing the shaft is expected to get over in April at Agriculture College and by June at Swargate. We will also start controlled blasting to dig the shaft area by coming Tuesday. We have taken all necessary permissions for the controlled blasting. All precautions will also be undertaken while carrying out the blasting activity, which will happen between 11 am to 6 pm,” added Gadgil.

The vertical shafts at Swargate and Agricultural College will facilitate the entry of tunnel boring machines (TBM) and start the tunnel excavation work. “We will need four TBMs. While two will enter from Agriculture College, other two will start the excavation work from Swargate. All four machines will come out from Budhwar Peth area,” Gadgil said.

Explaining the work of TBM machines, Gadgil informed that each TBM machine drills about six to seven meters on a daily basis. “The contractor will procure the TBMs by September. The machine costs around Rs 50 to 70 crore,” he said. 

The depth of the underground metro corridor is between 16 and 28 metres from ground level. The maximum depth will be at Civil Court where the underground rail crosses the Mutha river. The tunnel at Civic Court would be 7 to 8 metres below river level.

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