TBM S781 Lifted Out & S495 Breaks Through at Delhi’s Gurdwara Shaft
Following the completion of excavation work at Delhi Metro’s Gurdwara Emergency Shaft in north Delhi’s Rameshwar Nagar, the CEC-CICI JV earlier this month brought out parts of its TBM#2 (S781) and then had TBM#4 (S495) make a breakthrough on December 19. Both these Herrenknecht TBMs (1 original & 1 rescue) were deployed from either ends (Azadpur & Majlis Park Ramp) to complete the up-line tunnels of the long-delayed 58.596 km Pink Line.
To rehash from an earlier post, this emergency shaft was created so that the cutterhead and shields of 4 Tunnel Boring Machines (2 original & 2 rescue) could be lifted out to mark an end to tunneling works for package CC-04 (Mukundpur – Shalimar Bagh) of the 58.596 km Pink Line which is located at the mouth of the Mukundpur Depot. Without completing this critical section, the DMRC cannot begin operations on the rest of the line. The CEC-CICI JV commissioned both rescue TBMs S495 & S496 in April 2016 and started excavation works for the mid/emergency shaft in June 2016. If this shaft/development is new to you, then I’d suggest clicking on the links above to catch-up on what went wrong during tunneling, why 2 rescue TBMs were deployed and why this shaft is important for commercial operations to begin.
CC-04 between Shalimar Bagh & Majlis Park – view Delhi Metro Phase 3 map & information
TBM#2 (S781)
S781’s shield out on the ground
Segment erector being pulled out of the tunnel
Segment erector being hoisted out of the shaft
Segment erector on the ground outside the shaft
TBM#4 (S495)
S495’s breakthrough
495’s cutterhead being hoisted out
TBM without its cutterhead
Next up, TBM#3 (S496) will make a breakthrough followed by TBM#1 (S780) on the down-line. Both are patiently sitting on either end of the shaft waiting for S495’s parts to be dismantled and hoisted out. As and when they’re removed, I’ll either post here or share updates via my Twitter handle.
For more updates, check out Delhi section of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
When will they be able to start trial runs?
Perhaps in April-May from Azadpur to somewhere in west Delhi?
After the removal of S495 in the coming weeks, the up-line tunnel will be clear, but they’ll have to wait until all TBMs are out before pulling a train through this section like BMRCL did recently in Bangalore as the OHE & signalling installation will take more time to go live.
The shaft looks scary from above. Hats off to the contractor for building it in the middle of a residential colony…how much time will it take to close it now?
After the other 2 TBMs are out, the shaft would need at least 6 months to get patched up. They’ll do that while simultaneously conducting trial runs.
Why it looks scary ?
Dear Sir, my name is vivek Kumar. I am 21years old. And I have now fresher in diploma in mechanical engineering and 4month DMRC TBM(EPB) machine training in South Ex to lajpat baat in S-623 and S-624. For twin tunnel
The interchange station coming up at Netaji Subhash Place looks far from complete. Give it another 6 months at least.
Yup, all stations on the line need 6-12 months to get into a ‘ready’ state