The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has decided to send its engineers to a Malaysian academy to study the latest techniques and skills required for underground tunnelling.

The first 10 are already attending the Tunnel Training Academy in Kuala Lumpur, which uses audio-visual 3-D tools with wireless controls.

A spokesman said: “This training is aimed at increasing the levels of skills of the DMRC engineers in underground tunnelling. About 53km of the 143km of Delhi Metro phase 3 is being constructed underground, and 35 tunnel-boring machines will be used to achieve this target. Such intensive tunnelling activity will require specialised engineering skills .”

The Tunnel Training Academy in Kuala Lumpur was established in December 2011. It has trained 508 engineers so far, the DMRC said.