TBM S52 Makes a Breakthrough at Lucknow Metro’s Hazratganj Station

Note – this wasn’t a traditional breakthrough and the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) is likely to stage a double-breakthrough event next week to celebrate and publicly announce the arrival of both TBMs S52 & S53.

On this past Monday evening, the Tata – Gülermak JV began chipping away at the Hazratganj Station’s diaphragm “D-wall” using a demolition machine to welcome its Terratec manufactured TBM S52. This Ø6.52m EPB TBM was commissioned from the Sachivalaya (State Secretariat) Station’s Bapu Bhawan Shaft in January 2017 and took only 4 months to build the 780m down-line tunnel of the 22.88 km Line-1’s 3.44 km LKCC-06 underground section.

As mentioned in the comments section of a recent post, the TBM arrived at the Hazratganj Station’s box in late-May, but had to wait patiently for excavation works at the station’s platform level to get completed to make an appearance into the station. The contractor used a demolition machine, similar to this, so as to not damage the TBM’s cutterhead and disturb the surrounding old buildings’ weak foundations if a traditional breakthrough had been conducted.

A similar ‘assisted’ breakthrough was performed by the Pratibha-FEMC JV at Delhi Metro’s Nehru Enclave Station on the Magenta Line in February 2016.

Underground section of Lucknow Metro - view Lucknow Metro information & map

Underground section of Lucknow’s North-South line – view Lucknow Metro information & map

After drilling the D-wall, an excavator was brought in to remove the debris. Snap from last evening –

A locomotive pulling muck-cars, filled with soil/rock-chips, out of S52’s rear-end

Video of a segment being erected:

With this breakthrough out of the way, there are now only 5 more left! After TBM S53’s breakthrough at this station next week, the Tata – Gülermak JV will dismantle both TBMs, retrieve their parts and reassemble them again at the Sachivalaya (State Secretariat) Station’s western-end to build twin 613m tunnels towards the Hussainganj Station – view entire tunneling plan here.

For more updates, check out the Lucknow section of The Metro Rail Guy!

– TMRG

written by

Global traveler who prefers mass rapid transit

9 Responses to "TBM S52 Makes a Breakthrough at Lucknow Metro’s Hazratganj Station"

  1. SHIV says:

    Thats great TMG!! You have got all the insights of all metros. Tunneling work will first start from south ramp towards hussainganj station. Work in lucknow is at fastest pace. Thanks to Kumar Keshav ji and other management involved.

    Reply
  2. Ashok Kumar says:

    Hi TMRG,

    Any idea of how much the tunnels have progressed from Washermanpet to Thyagaraya college in Chennai?

    From your last update they were going at pretty good speed.

    We can finally hope to have a break through on the main line in the next two months near AG-DMS. So a Q3-Q4 2018 inugration likely for the entire Phase one of Chennai metro?

    Reply
  3. Nimit says:

    Can somebody help me understand the tunneling plan? Why can’t they start from Hazratganj directly to charbagh. Saving time.

    Reply
    • Prakash Kumar says:

      Space Constraints to construct the Ramp. I was the Lead Alignment Planner on behalf of DMRC during the planning stage.

      Reply
  4. Vikas jain says:

    Congratulation to all tunneling team.

    Reply

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