Afcons’ Agra Metro TBM Shivaji Records Breakthrough at RBS College

Afcons Infrastructure – Sam India Consortium earlier this month quietly celebrated tunnel boring machine (TBM) S-718C’s breakthrough at RBS College Station for Agra Metro Phase 1 project‘s 14.25 km Line-1 (Sikandra – Taj East Gate).

This was TBM S-718C (nicknamed Shivaji)’s third breakthrough and overall the 10th breakthrough for Agra Metro Phase 1’s 7.93 km Package AGCC-02 connecting RBS Ramp – Taj Mahal Ramp.

TBM Shivaji is a Ø6.63m diameter Herrenknecht earth pressure balance (EPB) machine and was previously deployed to build both 228m twin tunnels between Taj Mahal Station and Taj Mahal Ramp on Fatehabad Road, and went on to record breakthroughs in October and December 2023.

For its third drive which ended earlier this month, Shivaji excavated and built a roughly 734 meter tunnel for the down-line from RBS Ramp to RBS College Station.

Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) had awarded Afcons – Sam India Consortium with underground Package AGCC-02’s Rs. 1819.79 crore civil construction contract in March 2022 with a 48 month deadline.

Their section from chainage 3630.000 to 11564.485 consists of twin tunnels connecting 7 stations at Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Jama Masjid, SN Medical College, Agra College, Raja Ki Mandi and RBS College.

This was the second tunnel breakthrough for the remaining portion of Agra Metro Line-1’s underground section, outside of the now operational Priority Corridor, between RBS Ramp and Mankameshwar Mandir Station. The first breakthrough was recorded by Terratec TBM S115 for the parallel up-line tunnel in mid-April 2024.

A few days prior to TBM Shivaji’s breakthrough, Afcons celebrated erecting their 500th tunnel ring (1 ring = 1.4m wide) for the down-line tunnel.

TBM Shivaji will now be dragged through RBS College’s station box and recommissioned towards Raja Ki Mandi Station, covering a distance of roughly 640 meters.

With 10 breakthroughs squared away, there are now 8 more breakthroughs left: 2 at Raja ki Mandi, 2 at Agra College, 2 at SN College and 2 at Mankameshwar (Jama Masjid). TBMs Yamuna and Ganga are currently excavating and building ~485m long twin tunnels from Agra College to SN College and will be next in line to make breakthroughs. Stay tuned!

For more updates, check out the Agra section or my Home Page! Sign up for free instant email notifications on new posts over here. Like this post? Get early-access to updates and support the site over here.

– TMRG