Patna: Work on the underground section of Patna Metro Rail’s Corridor-I is progressing on the 10.5-km Mithapur-Rukanpura stretch along Nehru Path (Bailey Road). At Rukanpura, steel reinforcement cages are being lowered for construction of the diaphragm walls of the underground station.The underground section of the ‘Red Line’ will have six stations — Patna Junction, Vidyut Bhawan, Vikas Bhawan, Patna Zoo, Raja Bazaar and Rukanpura. Patna Junction will serve as an interchange station, linking the corridor with the other metro line.At Rukanpura, large steel cages were being lowered into designated sections of the underground station site with the help of heavy-duty cranes. Engineers and technical teams were supervising the placement and checking the alignment and condition of the reinforcement before the next stage of diaphragm wall construction. The work comes as Patna Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (PMRCL) prepares for another tunnelling operation in Nov.The diaphragm walls will form a major structural component of the underground station. The reinforced walls will support the excavation and provide stability to the underground structure as construction progresses.Four tunnel boring machines (TBMs) are scheduled to be lowered into shafts near Patna Zoo for tunnelling on the up and down lines of different sections of the underground corridor. Two TBMs will move towards Patna Junction to construct the up and down-line tunnels, while the other two will move towards Rukanpura to work on the two lines in the opposite direction.The deployment of four TBMs will allow tunnelling to progress simultaneously towards both ends of the underground section. The corridor will eventually connect Rukanpura with Patna Junction through Raja Bazaar, Patna Zoo, Vikas Bhawan and Vidyut Bhawan.Preparations near Patna Zoo have been slightly adjusted to suit the metro alignment. The change is aimed at keeping the underground infrastructure away from the zoo boundary while retaining the route within the roadside corridor.The development comes as Patna Metro has achieved a tunnelling milestone on another underground section. Around 5.2 km of tunnelling on the up line between Moin-ul-Haq Stadium and Patna Junction has been completed following the ninth TBM breakthrough.Once completed, the Mithapur-Rukkanpura underground section will carry the metro beneath one of Patna’s busiest stretches along Nehru Path, linking the railway station and key govt and commercial areas with Patna Zoo, Raja Bazaar and Rukanpura.
