On 22/09/21 Urja, the first TBM for the Namma Metro's Reach 6 line made a breakthrough at Shivajinagar, after completing the north bound tunnel of 855 m from Cantonment to Shivajinagar stations: click here for the video.
The stretch is part of the 13.9 km underground section (Dairy Circle-Nagawara) of the Reach 6 line, which has been split into four packages by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL).
Urja, which was imported from China and costs around ₹70 crore, started its underground journey at Cantonment metro station site in July 2020. It spent more than a year digging a tunnel below one of the oldest settlements of Bengaluru. Of the nine TBMs deployed for the underground section of the Pink Line, it is the first to achieve a breakthrough.
The machine faced many challenges due to rough geological conditions. It encountered hard rock as well as loose soil. The overburden (the distance between tunnel and the surface) ranged from nine to 11 m.
Now L&T, which has bagged the contract for Package 3 (Shivajinagar to Pottery Town Shadi Mahal) will disasssemble Urja. The parts will be transported by road to the launching shaft at north end of Cantonment station and assembled there to begin digging northward, towards Pottery Town station.
Vindhya, Urja's sister TBM, is working on the parallel south bound tunnel and it is expected to emerge at Shivajinagar in 20 days completing both tunnels of the 855 section. Vindhya has already drilled a distance of 693 m.
Yet another TBM, named Avni, is expected to make a breakthrough at Rashitriya Military School (MG Road) after completing tunnelling a stretch of 800 m from Shivajinagar. Completing Phase 2 will provide an additional 56 km metro line.
The Governnment asked BMRCL to advance the deadline for completion of phase II of metro project from 2025 to 2024.
The Union government has taken interest in the project to connect the airport with the metro and has extended financial support. The contract for the airport metro line from K.R. Puram to KIA would be awarded by October-end. Click here and in/54 for tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://english.bmrc.co.in/. 38/21.
