Metro's longest runways under open

Vellore: India's longest tunnel under a railway or subway for pedestrians, measuring 87 meters from the railway junction Arakkonam was inaugurated Saturday by Minister of State for Railways, R Velu. The tunnel station at Kurla in Mumbai, most so far is a good 13 feet short.

The subway has long been a public demand in the region for over six decades, Velu said, unveiling the switch built in less than 12 pieces at a cost of Rs 2.25 crore with the "push-box "technology.

Pradeep Gaur, Chief Project Manager, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), which runs large projects of the Indian Railways, told The Times of India that the tunnel is composed of 15 segments of cylinders of concrete, about six meters long. Each segment is 45 cm thick on all four sides, weighing about 80 tons per segment.

A casting yard was developed in the vicinity of where the tunnel was built to make these segments cast, Gaur said, adding that "the segments that were expressed in the form of a box had been pushed into land so that two segments does not respond below a place where two paths meet. "

The distribution of segments have been grown using high-capacity cylinders, after which the land, which has collected within the segment, was dug by hand. Although the charge for each segment is less advanced, it was a huge load of about 800 tons at the last meeting was to be pushed in.

The greatest care must be taken while driving in the castings as there was no land between them and the tracks above, Gaur said. Rail traffic was not interrupted once because of work currently under way, "he says.
The first stone of the tunnel way back was laid in April 2007, but the box to push the work began only in June 2008, as he raised the security concerns of trains plying the 12 tracks above for more months before the Commissioner of Railways, Safety, KJS Naidu to approve the work begins.
The tunnel work was finally completed in November of last year even though the railways face a number of challenges, such as abandoned old general bases of electrification (OHE), heavy flooding in the region, electrical cables and signaling as well as ongoing maintenance of 12 tracks with heavy traffic of some of the tracks are laid with temporary beams.
The Union Minister, who inaugurated a high mast lamp Arakkonam junction also laid the foundation stone of a new station at Cheyyar for Rs 6.74 crore railway and two bridges on all crossings and 86 Jolarpettai between 88 and Kethandapettai built to estimate R. 34 crore.