By Brij Khandelwal
Agra, Feb 7 (IANS) Work on the 29.6 km Agra metro rail project is progressing at a brisk speed, raising hopes of its completion much before the scheduled date.
“Indications are that the facility would be operational before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” officials hoped.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the Agra Metro Underground tunnel construction work at the Ramlila Maidan on Monday by launching the TBM Yamuna. He said, “UP Metro officials are doing a commendable job and executing the project timely. Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of cities that have operational metro services. Agra will also emerge as a metro city in the future and give plenty of employment opportunities, enhance tourism, and boost its image on the world map.”
The CM said, “UPMRC is putting all efforts into achieving this target six months ahead of its schedule. The schedule is marked for August 2024 and the team of UPMRC is planning to execute the project by early 2024. Metro services will be operational for the people of Agra by the beginning of 2024.”
MD UPMRC Sushil Kumar said, “UPMRC has always executed metro projects timely and ahead of schedule. This time as well we will achieve the same milestone, by delivering a world-class metro to the people of Agra ahead of the set timeline.”
The two TBM machines have been named ‘Yamuna’ and ‘Ganga’. Yamuna commenced the tunnelling work on Tuesday while Ganga will start tunnelling after two weeks from the Launching Shaft/Crossover section at Ramlila Maidan.
Yogi arrived at the crossover site and inspected the world-class safety park built at the site. Officials told him about the safety features followed at the site.
He signed on to the pre-cast ring segment and pressed the button for inaugurating the tunnel boring machine.
After the first breakthrough at Agra Fort Metro Station, the TBM will then go towards the Taj Mahal Metro Station (Purani Mandi Chauraha) and will be retrieved thereafter from the retrieval shaft.
One TBM weighs around 450 tons and its length is approximately 85 meters. The TBM daily operates for around an average of 10-12 meters.
–IANS
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