The Mumbai–Ahmedabad Bullet Train project reached a key milestone last week as Afcons Infrastructure received the parts of its first tunnel boring machine (TBM). The assembling of the TBM has begun in Navi Mumbai.
The mixshield tunnel boring machine (TBM) is now under assembly at Shaft-3 of the project, located in the Sawli area of Ghansoli. This site features a specially constructed circular shaft measuring 39 meters in depth, designed to facilitate the TBM’s operations for the underground tunnel work.
This shaft will serve as the launching point for tunneling operations on the project’s 20.377 km underground section, Package C-2, which stretches from Bandra Kurla Complex Station to Shilphata Ramp.
Afcons’ tunnel boring machine (TBM), which has been supplied by Herrenknecht AG, will be the largest ever deployed TBM in India. It will feature a cutterhead with a diameter of 13.56 meters. The machine had remained in China for more than a year due to export restrictions imposed by the Chinese government, delaying its arrival for the Mumbai–Ahmedabad Bullet Train project.
From Sawli, this TBM will be commissioned to tunnel towards Vikhroli. Along with another machine, it will be used to construct a 16 km single-tube tunnel. Recently, on September 20, a 4.88 km tunnel connecting Ghansoli and Shilphata in Maharashtra was successfully completed using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM). This tunnel forms part of the planned 21 km underground section between Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai and Shilphata, while the remaining portion will be constructed using TBMs.
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