TBM S780 Makes Final Breakthrough at Delhi Metro’s Gurdwara Shaft

Phase 3’s tunneling works are over!

On Saturday morning, TBM S780 – a Herrenknecht tunnel boring machine operated by the CEC-CICI JV recorded the 4th and final TBM breakthrough at the Delhi Metro’s Gurdwara Emergency Shaft in north Delhi’s Rameshwar Nagar for package CC-04 on the 58.596 km Pink Line of the 160 km Phase 3 project.

This TBM, along with S781, were commissioned from Azadpur Station in 2014 to build the 1100m twin tunnels towards the Majlis Park Ramp, but met with a large mass of intact rock which prevented both TBMs, configured primarily for soft-ground, from tunneling any further beyond Rameshwar Nagar. Following that, an emergency mid-shaft had to be constructed, and 2 rescue TBMs had to be leased from the HCC-Samsung JV (CC-34 on Magenta Line) & deployed from the opposite end for constructing the pending 600m twin tunnels.

Timeline of Azadpur – Majlis Park section’s breakthroughs:

• November 2016 – TBM S781 (up-line)

• December 2016 – TBM S495 (up-line)

• March 2017 – TBM S496 (down-line)

• April 2017 – TBM S780 (down-line)

The DMRC has kept this section’s tunneling issue under the wraps and hasn’t ever acknowledged it as the primary reason for delays in Pink Line’s testing and subsequent commissioning in north Delhi. All media reports, which are meticulously fed & influenced by DMRC’s PR department, have till now only blamed external agencies for land acquisition issues in Punjabi Bagh, Mayapuri, Trilokpuri and Hasanpur.

For further reading on the Gurdwara Shaft and why this shaft became necessary to be constructed for commercial operations to begin on the Pink Line, see the following posts:

• 1st Rescue TBM Commissioned for Delhi Metro’s Pink Line

• Last TBM Commissioned for Delhi Metro’s Pink Line at Majlis Park

• Excavation Begins for Delhi Metro’s Rameshwar Nagar Mid-Shaft

• Excavation Begins for Last Level of Delhi Metro’s Gurdwara Shaft

cc-04map

CC-04 between Shalimar Bagh & Majlis Park – view Delhi Metro Phase 3 map & information

Breakthrough image:

Here’s an image of the TBM’s cutterhead being hoisted up and removed from inside the shaft:

And here’s an image of the TBM’s shield without its cutterhead:

With this breakthrough out of the way, all Phase 3 tunneling works (2 x 53.8 kms) have come to an end. That figure is more than Phase 1 and Phase 2’s (2 x 48.06 km) combined underground route length.

Any sort of testing on the Pink Line is expected to be carried out first through the up-line tunnel which was completed in December 2016 by TBMs S495 and S781. This will take a further 3-6 months and really depends on how quickly S780’s parts are removed and the shaft’s RCC civil works are completed to prevent its collapse for the safe passage of trains to conduct testing. That said, commercial operations on the line’s western half (Mukundpur – Mayur Vihar Pocket-1) will only start in 2018 as I’ve highlighted in previous other posts.

For more updates, check out Delhi section of The Metro Rail Guy!

– TMRG

written by

Global traveler who prefers mass rapid transit

18 Responses to "TBM S780 Makes Final Breakthrough at Delhi Metro’s Gurdwara Shaft"

  1. RUPRAJ SENGUPTA says:

    THANK GOD THE ROUTE TO THE DEPOT IS FREE,WAS A TUNNELING SHEILD LEFT INSIDE AS REPORTED

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      Hi, the shield is inside the tunnel and can be seen in the last pic. When possible, I’ll update this post over the next few weeks with images to show whether the shield’s shell has indeed been left behind or not.

      Reply
  2. Shikhar says:

    What is the status of electrification of the Punjabi Bagh-Shalimar Bagh section?

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      Sorry, I don’t have that level of information. OHE notices have been published for 3 other stretches of the line south of it, so it might have been completed already?

      Reply
      • Adi says:

        Thw wires have been laid.. I see them daily whie passing through that stretch.. dont know whether they have been electrified or not.

        Reply
  3. Aishwarye says:

    What is the status of the shifting of Mitsubishi Rolling Stocks from Yellow and Blue line to Red line by the DMRC?

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      Sorry, no update on that. One of my followers from DMRC’s RS team is no longer with the org. I can ask elsewhere but doubt I’d get a reply.

      Reply
      • Aishwarye says:

        Today read in the times of india that the Haryana Government is in the last stages of approving the Iffco Chowk – Dwarka Sector 21 line and a line from HUDA City Center to Gurgaon Railway Station. Please share some information about these lines.

        Reply
        • TMRG says:

          Details (alignment and station locations) have been very dodgy so far and the Haryana govt has shown signs of coming close to approving these lines many times in the past. I’ll write about it as soon as an approval comes in.

          Reply
  4. Aakash Yadav says:

    So now when will trial runs start on pink line ????

    Reply
  5. Siddhant Kumar says:

    So when can we expect trial runs on mukundpur lajpat nagar section of pink line.

    Reply
  6. SANDEEP says:

    Hi TMRG, my question is outside the current topic. i have observed/felt vibrations on platforms of elevated metro stations. This is more at end points of metro station. Is this normal?

    Reply
    • TMRG says:

      I’ve also observed the same thing. If you feel it’s excessive, then do let the station manager/controller know.

      Reply
  7. Aakash Yadav says:

    Will DMRC put down Metro train set at mayapuri ramp to start trial runs between mayapuri ramp to Sakarpur ramp ?????

    Reply

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