Metro Rail to resume work at Villivakkam's MTH road for underground station

CHENNAI: The underground Metro Rail construction at Madras Tiruvallur High (MTH) Road in Villivakkam, which was paused for more than 6 months, is set to resume soon.

Since the tender was awarded, the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has been engaged with utility diversions in and around Villivakkam. It had even placed blue barricades to identify and divert the utilities.

Though the work in other four underground stations in Villivakkam had been rapidly progressing, the work at MTH Road had been halted for the diversion of an Overhead Transmission Tower (OHT) located near Padi bridge. Speaking to DT Next, a CMRL official said, “The work was halted due to OHT diversion. However, Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) workers are set to soon begin the work after incorporating the inputs from the Chennai Corporation. When the work begins, we’ll first engage in a 900-metre diversion.”

For corridor 5, CMRL awarded a tender to TATA worth Rs 1,817 crore for the construction of underground stations and tunnels from Kolathur Junction to Nadhamuni, with 5 stations about a year ago. The stations to be built are: Kolathur Junction, Srinivasa Nagar, Villivakkam, Villivakkam Bus Terminus and Nadhamuni (changed from Villivakkam MTH Road).

Meanwhile, CMRL’s innovative tunnel ventilation solution for its phase II project has been shortlisted for award under the category ‘Sustainability in Underground Design and Construction’ at the 20th international symposium on aerodynamics, ventilation and fire in tunnels. The award will be given at the symposium which will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, from October 28-30.

For the award, the paper titled, ‘Chennai Metro, India – a case study’, explored the challenges of designing underground stations in densely populated cities. “Space is a major constraint, forcing designers to find ways to minimise the footprint of essential service areas (electrical and mechanical rooms) without sacrificing functionality, passenger experience, comfort, or safety. The study aimed to optimise ventilation system layouts in the CMRL to save space and reduce costs,” the CMRL statement read.

The study proposed placing Tunnel Ventilation Fan (TVF)’s at one end of the station and using TVFs for both tunnel ventilation and trackway exhaust when not needed. This reduced the number of fans from 8 to 2, resulting in significant space and cost savings.

“The study also demonstrates that even with a single TVF, the system meets all fire safety requirements. The savings achieved in the phase II project are attributed to optimising civil space, reducing the number of fans, and lowering connected electrical load and cabling needs,” the statement added.