Metro rail offers to repair church building

The building developed cracks after the tunnel boring machine was stopped mid way and then started again.

Chennai:  The Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) has offered to repair a church which developed cracks due to tunnel boring for the transit system.

Senior CMRL officials met members of the parish of the Church of South India Tamil Wesley Church and allayed their fears about the safety of the building.

"The church is structurally safe. The cracks can be repaired in a week and we are ready to start the work immediately," said R Ramanathan, project director of CMRL.

Explaining the reason for the damage on the church, he said, "Tunnel boring machine had to be stopped for two days since a few occupiers did not vacate a building which was sealed. When we restarted the machine, it created a huge jerk which cracked the walls of the church.”

“The machine should not be stopped till it reaches the end of the tunnel. If the people had vacated the building on time, this could have been avoided," he added.

He said the repairs would be conducted in consultation with experts from IIT Madras. Parish members were worried about the safety of the 169-year-old church once the train services start.

"We have studied vibration of the trains and it showed that the intensity will be the same as that of trucks and buses on the road," he said.

CMRL officials had a lot of explaining to do as the agitated parish members raised questions on the impact of tunnel boring on the building.

"Do you have expertise in tunneling underneath old buildings or are you using us to study by trial and error?" asked Jhansi, a parish member.

Trying to allay their fears, Ramanathan said: "Metro rails were constructed underneath old buildings across the world. The engineers who work for us have built similar tunnels in more than 10 countries. Metro rail engineers have learnt from their experience and such a scenario should not have happened if procedure was followed to operate the tunneling machine. But we had to stop the machine midway."

V John Selvaraj, pastor of the church, said the church should be maintained in consultation with engineers of the Church of South India. However, Ramanathan suggested that it would be better if the repairs started immediately as leaving the cracks unattended would not be good for the building.

Devotees who sat through the morning service looked glum as many of them were surprised and worried to see cracks on the walls of the church.

"We are worried that the church has met with this fate and hope that its foundation will remain strong in the years to come," said the pastor in his sermon during the service.

Source: times of india