TERRATEC delivers first two TBMs for Pune Metro Rail Project in India

Tasmania, Australia (Urban Transport News): The world-renowned Australian designer and manufacturer of Tunnel Boring Machine, TERRATEC has announced the delivery of the first two of three 6.61m diameter Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) for Pune Metro Rail project in India. Both Earth Pressure Balance Tunnel Boring Machines (EPBMs) will be used by Gulermak-Tata Projects Limited for carrying underground works of Line 1 of the new Pune Metro Rail Project. The company has completed successful factory testing of the S78 and S79 machines last month.

In April 2019, Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation (MahaMetro) awarded two contracts to Gulermak-Tata JV for carrying out the underground construction of the twin-tube tunnel packages on the new 16.56 km-long north-south metro corridor. According to the detailed project report (DPR), the 5 km underground section which will connect the College of Agriculture in Shivajinagar to Swargate will have five metro stations. This section is considered the most challenging portion of the corridor as it passes under the densely populated areas of Kasba Peth, Budhwar Peth, and Mandai market. Ashish Dwivedi, Geotechnical Manager for the Gulermak-TPL JV, said:

We are now ready to launch TERRATEC TBMs S78 and S79 – which will be known as ‘Mutha’ and ‘Mula’ – as both these machines were successfully tested at TERRATEC’s factory by our engineers and found fit to be despatched to our Pune Metro site. TERRATEC TBMs have a very successful track record in India, with seven of the company’s machines currently completing tunnels for Mumbai Metro, and we expect to complete excavation on Pune Metro within the project schedule for our 5km of Line 1 TBM tunnels.

The tunnelling has been planned beneath century-old surface structures, crossing under the river Mutha and TBM lowering and dismantling in the very built-up areas of Budhwarpeth and Mandai stations where limited access are available. "The versatile TERRATEC EPBMs have robust mixed-face dome-style cutter head designed to work effectively in the compact Basalt that is expected on these contracts at pressures of up to 4 bar. As the TBMs progress, they will install 1,400mm wide by 275mm thick pre-cast concrete lining rings, which consist of five segments plus a key", said in the statement.

The TBMs have been received by Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation (Maha Metro) on November 13, 2019, at JNPT Port of Mumbai from TERRATEC’s factory in China. Now both TBMs will be assembled at the Pune Metro site and thereafter tested in mid-December. TERRATEC has emerged as the leading TBM supplier in the Indian market. In the last six years, the company has supplied 24 TBMs alone (more than all other TBM manufacturers combined over the same period).