Underground tunnel work: BMRCL seeks expert advice

Underground tunnel work: BMRCL seeks expert advice
S Praveen Dhaneshkar, Sep 29, Bangalore:

While the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), that has begun preliminary work pertaining to the underground stretch could actually commence excavation at the Dr B R Ambedkar Veedhi only next year, authorities at ‘Namma Metro’ have approached the Centre for infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for expert advice on geo-technical characterisation of the ground rock below the City.


According to Prof T G Sitharam, chairman of CiSTUP, three Ph D students from the IISc have been deputed to BMRCL to examine the profile of the underground stretch from Swastik to K R Road and Cricket Stadium to Magadi Road.
They will interact with chief engineers of the project and share expert advice on underground tunnelling.

“The BMRCL first evinced interest in the expertise of CiSTUP based on our ‘Report on Seismic Zonation of Bangalore Urban Centre’ that examined the geo-technical and geo-physical characterisation of the City, CiSTUP will offer consultancy on the stability of the underground section to BMRCL” said Prof Sitharam.

The report prepared by IISc for the Seismology Division in the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences does an in-depth study of seismic zones using geo-technical and geo-physical technique. It will be released soon in the national capital shortly.
This is the second time the IISc is being involved in the Bangalore Metro project.
Earlier this year, a report was prepared on ‘Geo Hydrological Studies along the Metro Rail alignment in Bangalore’ by the Department of Civil Engineering in the premier research institute.

Meanwhile, BMRCL that has completed technical and financial evaluation of bidders to the underground section is expected to announce award of tender contract in the second week of October.