On July 28, 2025 at 10h20 a.m.,  TBM n.1 named Than Toc (Lightning speed) - designed and manufactured by Herrenknecht, over 100 m length and 850 t weight -  successfully completed its breakthrough at Pilot Light Metro Line’s station Van Mieu (S11): click here for the video. The TBM n.1 began tunnelling on 30 July 2024 from station Kim Ma (S9) and has now completed approximately 2,036 m out of 2,574 m of that tunnel, installing a total of 1,350 tunnel lining rings.

TBM n.2, named Too bạo (Bold), launched on 3 February 2025 from Kim Ma (S9) station has currently tunnelled about 899 m, with 599 tunnel rings installed. Once tunnelling is completed at Hanoi Station (S12) station, the TBM heads will be dismantled there, and the remaining auxiliary equipment will be pulled back and disassembled at station Kim Ma (S9). 

The Hyundai-Ghella Joint Venture (HGU) is the main contractor for Package CP03 - Tunnels and Underground Stations, while FECON Ltd is the subcontractor for TBM excavation. As of July 24, 2025, the overall construction progress of Package CP03 has reached 62.74%. Tunnel lining production has completed 2,623 out of 3,488 rings, meeting the needs of both TBMs currently in operation. 

The Pilot Light Metro Line 3 is the first underground metro line in Vietnam’s capital, connecting Nhon -located in the Tay Tuu neighbourhood of Nam Tu Liem district, in western Hanoi -to Hanoi Station.  The total length of the entire route is 13,035 m (12 stations): 12,575 m of the main line (8.5km elevated and 4 km underground) and a 460 m ramp from Voi Phuc to Daewoo Hotel (S9 station) with a Depot. The underground section includes four news stations: Kim Ma (S9), Cat Linh (S10), Van Mieu (S11) and Hanoi station (S12).

 For further information on the project click here and here and vn/20 for tunnelbuilder archive. Visit https://mrb.hanoi.vn/ , https://www.ghella.com/en/, https://en.hdec.kr/en/main.aspx and https://fecon.com.vn/. 31/25.