The Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation (MahaMetro) has said that the work of underground metro stretch is likely to expedite in the coming months as first tunnel boring machine (TBM) which will be used for tunneling work has reached the city recently. A total of four machines are expected to be deployed for the tunneling work. The remaining machines will arrive in a phased manner in the next three months.

The MahaMetro said that it took seven days for the first TBM to reach Pune from the JNPT port in Mumbai by road. The machine parts were brought in three trucks because of its huge size and weight. Additional pullers were deployed to climb the ghat section of Lonavla and Khandala.

At some spots, vehicular traffic was stopped for a few hours as a precautionary measure to make way for the convoy of TBM. A senior official from MahaMetro said that the work of the assembling machine has been taken up. About 70% of the work of assembling has been completed so far. The remaining work is expected to get over in the next few days.