Herrenknecht Completes Factory Testing 3rd TBM for Mumbai Metro
German tunnel boring machine (TBM) manufacturer Herrenknecht AG on October 11 completed factory acceptance tests (FAT) for TBM S1075 – the third and final new TBM at their Guangzhou facility in China which will be used to build a section of Mumbai Metro’s 33.5 km Line-3 tunnels between Cuffe Parade and Aarey Colony.
The CEC-ITD Cem-TPL JV will deploy this earth pressure balance TBM along with two others (S1073 which is currently being assembled & S1074 which recently arrived at Mumbai Port) to construct twin tunnels on the line’s 6.081 km package UGC-04 from the Worli Station’s North Shaft to the Dharavi Station’s West Shaft through the TBM launch shafts located at Naya Nagar in Mahim and Siddhivinayak Station.
As per the tunneling plan, S1075 will build a total of 3 tunnels –
• Up-line tunnel: Siddhivinayak to Worli (1290 m)
• Down-line tunnel: Siddhivinayak to Worli (1290 m)
• Down-line tunnel: Siddhivinayak to Dadar (1116 m)
Map of Line-3’s UGC-04 (Worli – Dharavi) package – view Mumbai Metro information & map
TBM S1075 – Photo Copyright: MMRCL
Photo Copyright: MMRCL
Photo Copyright: MMRCL
All 5 contractors of the line plan to deploy a total of 17 TBMs to construct it, and with this development 11 TBMs have passed factory acceptance tests of which 4 TBMs have arrived in the city –
• Package UGC-02 – 1 Terratec TBM in China (new)
• Package UGC-03 – 1 Robbins TBM in Singapore (refurbished)
• Package UGC-04 – 3 Herrenknecht TBMs (1st, 2nd) in China (new)
• Package UGC-05/06 – 2 Terratec TBMs in Delhi (refurbished) + 2 Terratec TBMs (1st, 2nd) in China (new)
• Package UGC-07 – 2 STEC TBMs in Singapore (refurbished)
For more updates, check out the Mumbai section of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
Mr TMRG,
From the details of TBMs that have cleared the FAT,it is clear that none of the TBMs for section 1,(Contractor L&T) have passed the FAT. Similarly for section3(contractor Soma JV) ,I believe that only one TBM has passed FAT.
I suspect these delays will certainly affect the completion schedule unless corrected on priority.
Any comments?
S V Phene
Well observed. Both packages 1 & 3 are to be supplied with Robbins TBMs, so something is definitely not right on Robbins’ end. The sole TBM that passed FAT was a refurbished one and the rest 3 are supposed to be newly built. Robbins’ Flickr album (see caption in this link) points out that they’ll be delivered only in 2018.
A couple months here or there won’t really affect things, but any more tardiness will definitely throw the entire southern portion (package 3 – package 2 – package 1) off track.
Mr TMRG,
I completely agree that any large project has sufficient scope for overcoming such delays,however if If TBM supplier Robbins it self indicating that supply will happen in 2018( which is almost 6 months delay) it is certainly is a cause of concern.
Further the repeated Court intervention in the section 1 Cuffe Parade -CSTM , and reported financial difficulties of Soma for section 3 ( RBI restructuring of loans ) are further going to add to the potential delays.
As they say ” chain is as strong as the weakest link “- I hope MMRCL management is monitoring and working on plan B, in case of any such eventuality.
S V Phene
One good thing is that the Science Centre Station has train-reversal/track-change facility, so if sections 1-3 encounter major delays, then they can still run smooth operations up to that station without compromising on frequency.