Bangalore Metro to deploy five more TBM for construction of Phase II

Bengaluru, India (Urban Transport News): The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) is intending to deploy five Herrenknecht tunnel boring machines (TBMs) in several months. Bengaluru is probably going to observe a tunneling race between two organizations: one from China and another, a German firm. The four TBMs supplied by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry (CRCHI) will be utilized for the building tunnel on the 5.63-km stretch between Tannery Road and Vellara Road, going through Cantonment, Shivajinagar and MG Road.

While the two TBMs have been lowered for tunneling, the remaining two machines are yet to arrive at the city because of the pandemic. The contract was awarded to L&T Construction in February 2019. In June a year ago, the BMRCL had awarded the contract for the rest of the part of the 13.87-km underground section (Reach 6) to two organizations, independently.

While Afcons Infrastructure won the contract for building a 3.65-km tunnel between South Ramp at Dairy Circle and Vellara intersection, ITD Cementation India won the contract to build 4.59-km tunnel which runs between Tannery Road and North Ramp at Nagawara. Both the organizations – Afcons Infrastructure and ITD Cementation (India) – are intending to deploy Herrenknecht TBMs. While Afcons has just put in a request to purchase three brand new TBMs, another development firm ITD will deploy the two repaired TBMs that were recently utilized in the Delhi Metro Rail project and as of now put away in Chennai. "We are expecting all the five TBMs to show up in Bengaluru by December gave the pandemic circumstance fades away," a senior BMRCL official said.

He said the three Herrenknecht TBMs are being produced in China, in spite of the fact that it's a German organization. The construction of the Reach 6 stretch of Phase II is delayed by two years due to some factors, for example, re-inviting tenders, land obtaining inconvenience, and lack of foresight added to the deferral in beginning the development of the pink line, which goes through the core of Bengaluru. While the construction organizations are keeping the TBMs prepared, the BMRCL has been not able to hand over the land required for the underground task on schedule. Organizations need in any event a half year time to take up uncovering work, which is basic for bringing down the TBMs.

While a significant part of land acquiring is finished, the BMRCL is yet to acquire three government and ten private properties required for the Reach 6 underground stretch. Once the full-fledged work starts, authorities hope the nine TBMs will have the option to construct the tunnel around 14-km of underground stretch in around two years. The BMRCL had, in any case, taken around five years to build 9-km of the underground line by utilizing six TBMs in Phase II.