Underground tunneling work commences on Phase II of Bangalore Metro

Bengaluru, India (Urban Transport News): Finally after overcoming many hurdles, the metro construction work of Phase II of Bangalore Metro Rail project commenced on Thursday in Bengaluru. Karnataka Chief Minister, B. S. Yediyurappa after setting the motion of a tunnel boring machine (TBM), announced the commencement of tunneling work for the Namma Metro's longest underground metro corridor.

The TBM named 'Urja' will be tunneling (northbound tunnel) between Cantonment station and Shivajinagar station. The expected geology in the tunnel section is about 250m in hard rock, 350m in mixed ground condition, and about 255m in soil. The second TBM 'Vindhya' will be commissioned shortly after the required advancement of first TBM 'Urja'.

[#BreakingNews] BMRC commences tunneling wok on Bangalore Metro's Phase-II. Tunnel Boring Machine 'Urja' began tunneling work between the upcoming Cantonment and Shivaji Nagar Metro Stations (Reach 3) yesterday.#NammaMetro #BangaloreMetro pic.twitter.com/EXt7H0aPJ1

— Urban Transport News ? (@urbantransnews) July 31, 2020

The Phase II extension (Reach-4) from Yelachenahalli to Anjanapura is likely to be commissioned in November 2020, extension line (Reach-2) from Mysore Road to Kengeri in February 2021, extension line (Reach-1) from Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield in June 2022, extension line (Reach-3) from Nagasandra to BIEC in January 2022, newline (Reach-5) from RV Road to Bommasandra in March 2022 and new line (Reach-6) from Kalena Agrahara to Nagawara in June 2024.

The underground section of Phase II of Bangalore Metro Rail project consists of a 13.9 km underground corridor from the South Ramp near Jayanagar Fire Station to North Ramp near Nagawara Underground Station, consisting of 12 underground stations and 10.37 km of twine tunnels. The construction of the entire underground work has been divided into four packages namely RT-01, RT-02, RT-03, and RT-04. Under RT-03 package the work involves, tunneling from Cantonment station to Shivajinagar station and from Cantonment station up to launching/retrieval shaft at Shadhi Mahal near Tannery Road underground station for a length of 2.88 km with two underground stations viz.

Cantonment and Pottery Town. The contractor Larson & Toubro Construction has procured to Slurry-based Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) to complete the above tunneling works. TBMs have procured from the Chinese firm CRCHI and consignments reached the Chennai Port by Sea route and were transported to Bengaluru in the month of March 2020. The names of the two TBMs are 'Urja' and 'Vindhya'. For more details, please explore our Bangalore Metro section.