Pune: Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC), which is implementing the work of Pune Metro Rail Project on Monday said it accomplished a tunnel ‘breakthrough’ in the underground section of one of the two corridors.

There is a 5 km underground line from PCMC to Swargate where the subway starts from Krishi Mahavidyalaya and traverse to Swargate. These routes will include Shivajinagar bus stand, Civil Court, Phadke Houd, Mandai and Swargate. In order to accelerate the work of the subway, a large pit is constructed at the station site and the work of the subway is done with the help of tunnel boring machine. When a tunnel boring machine enters a pit dug for a subway station, it is called a ‘tunnel breakthrough’.

While Vanaz to Ramwadi section is an elevated line, PCMC to Swargate corridor is partially elevated. This phase of Pune Metro's underground work will be a milestone. The Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) from the College of Agriculture has entered the pit dug for the station at Civil Court. The break-through stage was completed on Monday. A breakthrough is when a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBMs) completes its scheduled underground stretch and comes out to the bottom of the channel.

Maha Metro MD Brijesh Dixit said the tunnelling work for Pune Metro is going on with astute planning and utmost precision. Mahametro's Project Director Atul Gadgil, General Manager Hemant Sonawane, Tata Project's Rajesh Jain and Benny Joseph, Gulermark Tata Project's Alpar were present on the occasion.