Breakthrough for the Green Line

 

 

A major milestone has been reached in the construction of Dubai Metro’s Green Line with the completion of a tunnel from Union Square to Salah Al Din.

 

The excavation work was carried out with the first tunnel boring machine to be used on the line. The device – known as TBM3 – broke through the walls at Salah Al Din Station after digging out the 729 metres underground section. The tunnel is the first on the Green Line to be completed. The line is shorter but has more underground stations and tunnels than the Red Line, which is mostly elevated.

 

Tunnelling began last December and 3,888 lining segments were used to form 486 lining rings.

 

“The TBM has formed a tunnel with an internal diameter of 9.5m,” said Adnan Al Hammadi, director of construction at the Rail Agency. “The machine has covered the distance in 60 days, advancing an average rate of about 12.15 metres per day. We still have a considerable amount of tunnelling to do on the Green Line .

 

“The line is being constructed within the central business districts of the city and will have eight underground stations, including two transfer stations linking to the Red Line.”

 

TBM3 will now be dismantled and transported to the Palm Deira Station where it will be used in the next phase of tunnelling, the excavation of a section heading towards Al Ras. The 22.5km, Dh4.1 billion Green Line will have 20 stations – 12 elevated ones and eight underground ones. Some 7.9km of the route will be below ground.

 

The line will run from Union Square through Deira and Bur Dubai to BurJuman, through Healthcare City to Jaddaf in the South, and from Union Square through the Al Nahda-Damascus Road and Al Qiyadah intersections towards Al Qusais.