Twitter
Advertisement

Underground tunneling work for Mumbai Metro's Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ line to begin from Oct

First phase between SEEPZ and Bandra Kurla Complex is scheduled for opening in September 2020.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

Come October, Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) will snake below your buildings to make room for Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ metro rail in Mumbai. The machines will reach the city in July.

“In all 17 TBMs are needed for the project, first of them will be here in July. The others would follow during the subsequent 6-8 months,” said SK Gupta, Director, (Projects), Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC).  Each of these machines weigh approximately 1,400 tonnes and cranes will be used to lower them underground.

In order to get these 17 TBMs, orders worth around Rs 2,200 crore have been placed by the construction firms with international companies manufacturing these machines.

Of the 17 TBMs, five will be reused after refurbishment. The TBMs are mostly coming from Delhi, after the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation have used it to have their own metro network. There are some coming in from Singapore after refurbishment. Some parts needs to be replaced to make it fit for use in Mumbai. Around Rs 70 crore will be spent to replace components to make them fit for reuse.

Once the TBM is launched underground, depending upon the strata or earth, the progress of excavation would be in the range of 8 to 14 metres per day per TBM. “If there is a rock, the pace will come down to around 8 metres per day, but if there’s only soil some 14 metres can be excavated daily by each TBM,” added Gupta.

What is interesting about these machines is that though different construction companies undertaking civil work for the project have placed orders with various international firms (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Robbins, Herrenknecht AG, etc.) from across the world like Australia, Germany, Canada, Japan, eventually the manufacturing of it all is being done in China.

In the world, there are only seven companies manufacturing TBMs, with four of them supplying it for 33.5-km long metro’s construction. Each of these new machines cost around Rs 130 crore.

Being built at an estimated cost of Rs 23,136 crore, this metro 3 corridor is scheduled for completion in two phases. First phase between SEEPZ and Bandra Kurla Complex is scheduled for opening in September 2020 and the entire route by March 2021.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement