The civil work of all the five underground Metro stations on the 5km stretch between Agriculture College and Swargate has started. The Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MahaMetro) said it had begun excavation at two crucial sites, Budhwar Peth and Mandai stations. The ground work of Civil Court and Shivajinagar stations is also in advanced stage. The work on Swargate station, the fifth and the last station on the route has started this week.
The Swargate station will be constructed using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) because it is at the end of the tunnel. A plan was finalised recently, according to which the tunnelling and construction work of stations would progress simultaneously.
“We have prepared a plan in such a way that both the works can go on. The tunnel boring machine that started the tunnelling work from Agriculture College has reached near the site of Shivajinagar station. Though the station work is yet to be finished, the tunnelling work will not stop. Coordination will be maintained in both the works. The machines will be pulled out from Mandai instead of Budhwar Peth,” an official said.
A senior official from MahaMetro said, “We have started the tunnelling work from the Agriculture College-end with two tunnel boring machines. There is a plan to expedite the work of the underground stations. The locations of all the five stations have been finalised. The MahaMetro had to change the site of Budhwar Peth station from its earlier location because of opposition from the residents of the area. The plan for the new site is now ready.”
The Civil Court station would be an interchange station because two Metro lines Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC)-Swargate and Vanaz-Ramwadi would converge there. The underground and overhead stations would be constructed in the same building structure.
All the underground stations are located about 20 metres below the ground. Every station will have entry-exit points from the ground level. MahaMetro said the commuters would be able to reach the concourse-level using staircases and elevators. Sites for entry-exit points have been identified for all the stations.