[Pics] TBM Margarita in Bangalore Being Dismantled After North Ramp Breakthrough
Yesterday morning, I had posted some images on Twitter of TBM Margarita being dismantled after it successfully made a breakthrough at the Bangalore Metro’s North Ramp on November 7 after tunneling ~770m on the down-line tunnel from Majestic station’s TBM shaft. Since a lot of my readers do not have a presence on Twitter, here are those images once again along with a few more. All of these images were shot over the past 7 days at different times.
As per an on-site engineer, this battle hardened TBM will now be put through extensive mechanical repairs. Its owner, the CEC-CICI JV, has plans to either use the TBM if they win an underground tunneling contract in Phase 2 or sell the TBM to the highest bidder for use in Phase 2’s tunneling, so either way, Margarita will most probably be back in action towards the end of 2017! As a reminder, in Phase 2 of the Bangalore Metro project (view map), the existing 2 lines will extended in all 4 directions and 2 new lines will be built in which 13.79 km of the 21.25 km Gottigere (IIMB) to Nagawara line will be underground.
Some images of the TBM being dismantled and hoisted out of the shaft:
Photo Copyright: Prasatkhom Somsang
Middle shield ready to be hoisted – Photo Copyright: Prasatkhom Somsang
Photo Copyright: Prasatkhom Somsang
Photo Copyright: Prasatkhom Somsang
The TBM’s guts – Photo Copyright: Prasatkhom Somsang
Photo Copyright: Prasatkhom Somsang
Photo Copyright: Prasatkhom Somsang
A locomotive’s car used for carrying muck being lifted out – Photo Copyright: Tukky Bodyslam
As a reminder, Bangalore Metro’s Reach 2 between Magadi Road and Mysore Road will start commercial operations today at 4pm, so do keep a tab on my Home Page for a post on that!
For more updates on the Bangalore metro, check out the Bangalore section of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
First of all a BIG THANKS for providing the collective information about the metro construction. Could you please provide comprehensive information about the TBMs involved in Purple line?
Hi Giridhara, sorry for the late reply – I was out on a little vacation. The Purple line was tunneled by CEC-CICI using the TBMs named Helen & Margarita (featured above). You can find a lot of info on them here:
1) http://www.railway-technology.com/features/feature127363/
2) http://www.tunneltalk.com/Bangalore-Metro-17Mar2014-Final-drive-for-UG2-breaks-through.php
3) http://tunnellingjournal.com/news/bangalore-breakthrough/
I can help with specific questions if you have any!