Recent breakthrough marks triumph over Mixed Ground Conditions - On January 27, 2016, a Robbins mixed ground EPB broke through at Chennai Metro, finishing up a challenging second drive that saw the full gamut of difficult conditions.  The 1,027 m long second drive for the machine was part of Lot UAA-01 on Line 1 of the city’s metro, consisting of two parallel 1.0 km (0.6 mi) tunnels running from the Washermanpet area towards Chennai International Airport.  Contractor Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. reflected on the breakthrough: “We are really proud of our executing team, who have maintained a high standard of quality. We didn’t record any water leakage or settlement at the surface, and we have demonstrated a high standard of safety in the tunnel during construction,” said Mr. Gopal Dey, Sr. Manager for Afcons. 

Launched from a 28 m (92 ft) deep starting pit, the EPB experienced challenging ground nearly from the outset that required help and analysis from Robbins India. 

The completed sections of tunnel will now be commissioned as part of Line 1, a 32.1 km (19.9 mi) long route in total with 14.3 km (8.9 mi) underground and a total of 17 stations. For further information please read the press release and visit the Robbins company website. 08/16