Nation’s first underwater metro tunnel running beneath the Hubli river in Kolkata is now complete in just 66 days. The tunnel project was completed after studying and analyzing similar tunnels in the world’s 13 cities. The tunnel is built 36 meters beneath the Hubli river.
The next phase of laying of tracks for the metro had already begun as the project is expected to be completed by March 2022. The tunnel runs 520 meters in length and is 6 meters tall. The tunnel will save up to 30 minutes of commuters time as the shorter distance of 520 meters can be covered within 1 minute by the metro compared to 30 minutes when it circumcises the Howrah bridge. The tunnel will save effectively up to 435,000 hours of time as 9 lakh commuters could save 29 minutes of traveling time in one trip. The overall length of the tunnel is 16 km of which 520 meters runs beneath the Hubli river.
This engineering marvel faced several challenges, the toughest among them was to create waterproof barriers to shield Hubli river water from gushing inside the tunnel. The deep tunnel was airconditioned for the laborers as the heat inside was unbearable. Oxygen has to be pumped inside the tunnel as the life air was very thin inside the deep tunnel. The tunnel will connect Hubli to Kolkata Metro in the shortest path possible.
The work of Metro stations is also in progress along with laying of tracks in order to speed up the project.
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