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India's first undersea twin tunnels are all set to open in November this year in South Mumbai as it is very near to its completion. This undersea twin tunnel project is a part of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MCRP) which is INR 12,721 crore.
The twin tunnels begin right ahead of Marine Drive, close to Girgaon. The tunnels cover Malabar Hill and Girgaon Chowpatty as they travel north under the Arabian Sea and at Breach Candy's Priyadarshini Park, both tunnels come to an end.
About the first-ever Twin Tunnel:
According to the IE report, the tunnels will be 17.0- 20 meters below sea level and have a diameter of 12.19 meters. 6 crosswalks will be included as well, 4 of which will be for pedestrians & 2 for motorists. Each of the two tunnels will have 3 wide lanes of 3.2 meters with its deepest point near Malabar Hill which will be 72 metres. The installation of fiberglass facades at the tunnel's entry and exit locations is the most exciting development!
Benefit for commuters:
The 10.58-kilometer Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MCRP) links Marine Drive to Bandra-Worli Sea Link, & during rush hours, it is anticipated that the high-speed coastal road will cut the 45-minute trip from Girgaon to Worli in half to just 10 minutes.
What's interesting?
The twin tunnels were built by cutting through intricate geological strata with the help of a large Chinese Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) with a crew of 35 men. The Mavala TBM, which stands roughly 12 meters tall and weighs over 1,700 tonnes, is the biggest one ever deployed in India. It was made by the China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Company Ltd. (CRCHI), put together, and unveiled a year ago.
As mentioned above the tunnels required complex geological strata to be cut through by 35 men and a huge Chinese Tunnel Boring Machine for more than two years. They also had to be built deeply under the sea while being strong enough to endure the pressure of the water.
The boring work started in January 2021, however, the assembly and launch of the TBM started a year earlier. Mavala made by CRCHI is divided into three sections.
Mavala made its initial breakthroughs from the Girgaon end in 2022 January after a year of mining work, and the second tunnel's drilling started in April 2022. There are only 140 meters of remaining mining work, thus the BMC anticipates making its breakthrough by the end of May. The team faced numerous challenges, including a lockdown & geopolitical tensions with China.
