Delhi Metro TBM Makes a Breakthrough at RK Puram Mid-Shaft on Magenta Line

What a way to end the year!

Yesterday afternoon, the THI-1 TBM deployed by the L&T-SUCG JV made a breakthrough at the Magenta line’s RK Puram mid-shaft! This TBM was launched from the Munirka station in September and traveled roughly 300 meters to reach the mid-shaft which has been constructed exclusively for the line’s up-line tunnel. This event marks the 8th breakthrough to be recorded on the CC-27 project which spans from Shankar Vihar to Hauz Khas.

Between Vasant Vihar & Munirka, the L&T-SUCG JV had deployed 3 TBMs to speed up the completion of the tunnels on this stretch and beat the May 11 2016 deadline set by the Delhi Metro Rail Corparation. While this TBM was deployed from Munirka, the other two were launched from Vasant Vihar and are expected to make breakthroughs in February and April 2016 – please see the table at the bottom of this post.

Alignment of Magenta line with locations of stations and RKP mid-shaft (purple star) – view Delhi Metro map

Satellite view of the mid-shaft where the breakthrough was made:

Boom! – Photo Copyright: Bharti Supriya

But first, let me take a selfie! – Photo Copyright: Sandeep Singh

After clean-up, a cradle was installed to bring the TBM out – Photo Copyright: Mujeebulla Shaik

With this breakthrough out of the way, only 4 more breakthroughs are left on the CC-27 section between Shankar Vihar and Hauz Khas. Here’s a list of all the remaining tunnel sections and their estimated completion time-frame:

The ‘AIC Mid-Shaft’ above refers to the mid-shaft which has been constructed adjacent to the Air India Colony between Vasant Vihar and Shankar Vihar. Like the RK Puram mid-shaft, L&T-SUCG built this mid-shaft in order to deploy an additional TBM and speed up work.

For more updates on Delhi Metro’s Phase III, check out the Delhi section of The Metro Rail Guy!

– TMRG