Mumbai Metro 3: MMRC gets second tunnel boring machine

The machine would be launched in Azad Nagar and used to construct a 4 km-long tunnel between CSMT and Mumbai Central metro station crossing Kalbadevi, Girgaon and Grant Road stations (Representational Image)

After initiating the launching process for a tunnel boring machine (TBM) at Naya Nagar, the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) has received the second TBM for the construction of Metro III. The machine would be launched in Azad Nagar and used to construct a 4 km-long tunnel between CSMT and Mumbai Central metro station crossing Kalbadevi, Girgaon and Grant Road stations.

Procured from Australian company Terratech Private Limited, the TBM will be lowered in mid-October using cranes of 135 tonnes capacity. The assembling process will take 45 days. “Completing Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs) for almost all the 17 TBMs, we welcome the arrival of Metro III’s second tunnel boring machine. The TBM will allow soft, wet, hard or unstable ground to be tunnelled with speed and safety,” said Ashwini Bhide, the Managing Director, MMRC.

“For safe construction and reducing the impact on the surrounding environments, we are using a technology that will be applied by implementing a real-time monitoring and safety evaluation system to track the process during excavation,” she added.