Mumbai Metro-3 Complete 20 km of tunneling

Mumbai, Metro Rail News: The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) has completed 20 km of the total 52 Km tunnelling, which is around 38%, of the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ corridor. This was the 5th breakthrough achieved by a tunnel boring machine (TBM) Wainganga-3 at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA)-T2 Metro station on February 13, 2019. TBM Wainganga-3 completed tunneling of 1.31 Kms within 318 days of commissioning.

S.K. Gupta, director (projects), MMRC, Who was present at the site said, “We have completed around 38% of tunnelling and 35% civil works of the project. In all, there will be 32 breakthroughs. These are all major milestones for our project.”

“There are 17 TBMs deployed to construct the entire length of the 33-km corridor, for which the tunnelling work spans across 52.21 km.” he added.

The Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), named Wainganga 3, was commissioned on April 2, 2018, and built a 1.31-km tunnel from the launch shaft at Marol Naka, in 318 days. It is a part of package 7, which is being constructed by the consortium of Larsen & Toubro and Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co. Ltd.

Starting it’s course under Metro Line 1 at Marol Naka The 92 meter long TBM Wainganga-3 tunneled at an average of 4.2 meters daily through the rocky strata made of Basalt, volcanic Breccia shaping the tunnel with 937 RCC cement rings.

Of the five TBM breakthroughs, three have occurred in this package, which will connect the international terminal of the airport to SEEPZ via MIDC and Marol Naka. The total length of the tunnel in the package is 7.07 km of which 50% of tunnelling has been completed till date. In January, the MMRC achieved a twin tunnel breakthrough at Dadar station. Officials said the next one is likely to be at Sahar.

Speaking on the occasion Mrs Ashwini Bhide,MD,MMRC said “Ths is a big milestone & we are ecstatic about completing another tunnel breakthrough in this package Ths route will offer interchanging facility to commuters where it will get connected with 2 Metro Corridors Metro line 1 & Metro line 6”

COLABA-BKC-SEEPZ LINE IN FIGURES

• Total Length: 33-km
• Operational by: 2022
• Ridership: 15-20 lakh daily
• Stations: 27 underground stations

PROJECT STATUS

• Civil work: 35% completed
• Tunnel length: 52-km
• Completion of tunneling: 20 km (38%) Crucial link
• It will connect major central business districts (CBD) such as Nariman Point, Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) and Seepz in Andheri.