Last TBM Commissioned for Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line at Chirag Delhi
The last Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) to excavate & build the 23.807 km underground section of Delhi Metro’s 38.235 km Magenta line from Janakpuri W to Botanical Garden has been commissioned! Yesterday evening, the Pratibha-FEMC JV team for contract CC-23 of the Delhi Metro Phase 3 project started tunneling work for the 545m down-line tunnel from the Chirag Delhi station towards the Greater Kailash (GK) station, and completed building one temporary ring by midnight. Tunneling work for this section’s parallel up-line tunnel started on January 16.
Alignment of Chirag Delhi – Greater Kailash section of Delhi Metro’s Magenta line –
view Delhi Metro map & information
Images from the Chirag Delhi station’s TBM launch shaft:
CC-23’s TBM for the down-line between Chirag Delhi & Greater Kailash – Photo Copyright: Anilkumar Laddu
View from the top of the shaft – Photo Copyright: Anilkumar Laddu
TBM’s backup gantry – Photo Copyright: Anilkumar Laddu
1st temporary ring! – Photo Copyright: Anilkumar Laddu
Another snap of the 1st temporary ring – Photo Copyright: Harpreet Singh Riar
Parts of this TBM were lowered into the launch shaft in January. Here are a couple of images:
Down-line tunnel’s eye-seal being lowered on January 11 – Photo Copyright: Anand Prasad
Midshield of the down-line’s TBM was lowered on January 19 – Photo Copyright: Lalvesh Tiwari
Down-line & Up-line TBMs at Chirag Delhi in January 2016 – Photo Copyright: Ankur Tyagi
The distance between the Chirag Delhi and Greater Kailash stations is only 545m – one of the shortest on the line, so this TBM can be expected to make a breakthrough at Greater Kailash in May.
With this TBM on its way, there are now 9 TBMs operating on the following sections of the Magenta line:
| Contract | Contractor | Origin | Destination | Line |
| CC-23 | Pratibha – FEMC | Greater Kailash | Nehru Enclave | Up-line & Down-line |
| CC-23 | Pratibha – FEMC | Chirag Delhi | Greater Kailash | Up-line & Down-line |
| CC-23 | Pratibha – FEMC | Chirag Delhi | Panchsheel Park | Down-line |
| CC-27 | L&T – SUCG | Shankar Vihar | Aravali Mid-Shaft | Down-line |
| CC-27 | L&T – SUCG | Vasant Vihar | Aravali Mid-Shaft | Down-line |
| CC-27 | L&T – SUCG | Vasant Vihar | RK Puram Mid-Shaft | Up-line |
| CC-27 | L&T – SUCG | Vasant Vihar | Munirka | Down-line |
Out of last 9 TBM breakthroughs, 3 of them are expected to take place towards the end of this month. In no particular order:
• At the Aravali mid-shaft from the Vasant Vihar station for the down-line tunnel. The parallel up-line tunnel was completed in January 2015. See: #TBT – Delhi Metro Completes Palam – Shankar Vihar Tunnels
• At the Panchsheel Park station from the Chirag Delhi station for the down-line tunnel. The parallel up-line tunnel was completed in December 2015. See: Delhi Metro TBM Makes a Breakthrough at Magenta Line’s Panchsheel Park Station
• At the Nehru Enclave station from the Greater Kailash station for the up-line tunnel. The parallel down-line tunnel has completed roughly 1/3rd of its journey and is expected to make a breakthrough in April.
For a detailed report with recent progress made on all Delhi Metro Phase 3 lines’ tunnels, please see my February 2016 Tunneling Update.
For more updates on Delhi Metro’s Phase III, please visit the Delhi section of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
Which all TBMs are yet to be commissioned for the Delhi metro’s PINK line?
Hi, there are 3 more left:
• CC-04 – 2 TBMs from the Majlis Park shaft to Rameshwar Nagar mid-shaft in order to complete the balance work for both up-line & down-line tunnels between Majlis Park and Azadpur stations
• CC-18 – 1 TBM from the RK Puram shaft on the Ring road to Bhikaji Cama Place station for the down-line tunnel