Mumbai Metro Line-3 – February 2018 Tunneling Update

With construction work picking up pace on Mumbai Metro’s new 33.5 km Line-3 (Cuffe Parade – Aarey Colony), here’s a consolidated update on the line’s tunneling progress highlighting key developments that took place over the past 2 months.

Going forward, I plan to publish a similar post at the beginning of every month which will hopefully answer a lot of questions and make the project’s progress clearer. Since March 1 is right around the corner, the next edition will be published on April 1 or sometime in its first week. In case you’re unaware of Mumbai’s neighborhoods or need a map to help visualize what goes where, then you can refer to the Mumbai Metro Info Page & Map.

MMRCL’s 5 contractors plan to deploy a total of 17 TBMs across the line’s 7 civil packages. In December 2017, they decided to personalize and name their TBMs after local rivers in Maharashtra – Surya, Vaitarna, Tansa, Krishna, Godavari, Tapi and Wainganga to “create a sense of belonging”. For instance, Package UGC-04’s 3 TBMs have been named Krishna-1, Krishna-2 and Krishna-3.

As of the morning of February 21 –

• 5 TBMs have been commissioned (T-59 ‘Vaitarna-2’ will be commissioned today at Azad Maidan)
• 2 TBMs have been lowered into their respective shafts (T-59 ‘Vaitarna-2’ and T-60 ‘Godavari-2’)
• 13 TBMs have passed factory acceptance tests (1 Terratec and 3 Robbins machines are pending)
• 11 TBMs have arrived in the city’s port from China & Singapore (2 refurbished TBMs which completed FAT in July 2017 are yet to arrive from Delhi)

Tunneling Progress

This table is best viewed on a desktop

Pkg	TBM	Origin	Destination	Progress	Notes
02	T-58 (Vaitarna-1)	Azad Maidan	Mumbai Central	102/3817m	As of Feb 16
04	S-1073 (Krishna-1)	Nayanagar Shaft	Dadar	128/2484m	As of Feb 19
04	S-1074 (Krishna-2)	Nayanagar Shaft	Dadar	122/2484m	As of Feb 19
06	T-61 (Godavari-1)	Vidyanagari	Sahar Road	40/4687m	As of Feb 10
07	T-206 (Wainganga-1)	Pali Ground Shaft	CSIA T2	90/1296m	As of Feb 2

Package UGC-01

Scope: Cuffe Parade to CST with 4 stations at Cuffe Parade, Vidhan Bhavan, Churchgate & Hutatma Chowk
Contractor: Larsen & Toubro – Shanghai Tunnel Engg. Co. (L&T – STEC) JV

The Robbins Company was contracted to supply two Crossover TBMs, but none of them have yet passed factory acceptance tests (FAT) – a major cause for concern.

Package UGC-02

Scope: CST to Mumbai Central with 4 stations at CST, Kalbadevi, Girgaon & Grant Road
Contractor: Hindustan Construction Co. – OSJC Moscow Metrostroy (HCC – MMS) JV

• TBM T-58 (Vaitarna-1) – After getting commissioned on November 28,  this Terratec machine on February 15 became the 1st TBM to begin its main-drive from Azad Maidan towards Kalbadevi.

Vaitarna-1, Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) of pkg 02, with 94 meters of tunneling completes the initial drive at Azad Maidan launching shaft. #inprogress #Comingsoon #MumbaiLifeLine3 pic.twitter.com/1sMDJI1dw3

— MumbaiMetro3 (@MumbaiMetro3) January 11, 2018

• TBM T-59 (Vaitarna-2) – This Terratec TBM passed FAT in October 2017, arrived in the city in December, and was lowered into the Azad Maidan Shaft on January 7. HCC-MMS plans to commission this TBM today – stay tuned for a post!

Package UGC-03

Scope: Mumbai Central – Worli with 5 stations at Mumbai Central, Mahalaxmi, Science Museum, Acharya Atra Chowk & Worli
Contractor:  Soma Enterprise – Dogus Insaat-ve-Ticaret A.S (Soma – Dogus) JV

The Robbins Company was contracted to supply 2 Robbins NFM Slurry TBMs. Out of them, only one has passed factory acceptance tests (FAT) so far.

• TBM 1238 (Tansa-1) – this TBM passed FAT in September 2017 and arrived in the city on February 12.

Package UGC-04

Scope: Worli – Dharavi with 3 stations at Siddhivinayak, Dadar & Shitladevi
Contractor: Continental Engineering Co. –  ITD Cementation India – Tata Project Ltd. (CEC – ITD Cem – TPL) JV

• TBM S-1073 (Krishna-1) – this Herrenknecht TBM was commissioned on November 6 2017 and has built 86 rings as part of its initial drive for the up-line tunnel. It’s currently being assembled for its main drive towards Shitladevi Station and is expected to restart tunneling in the last week of February.

Krishna-1 TBM for package 4 (Naya Nagar to Dadar) of #MumbaiLifeLine3 under assembly for main drive post completing initial drive of 120 meters at launching shaft in Mahim #CivilWorksUpdate @CMOMaharashtra @rajtoday @TheMetroRailGuy pic.twitter.com/f1nLlW5SxH

— MumbaiMetro3 (@MumbaiMetro3) January 25, 2018

• TBM S-1074 (Krishna-2) – this Herrenknecht TBM was commissioned on December 3 2017 and has built 81 rings as part of its initial drive for the down-line tunnel. It’s currently being assembled for its main drive towards Shitladevi and is expected to restart tunneling in March.

• TBM S-1075 (Krishna-3) – this Herrenknecht TBM passed FAT in October 2017 and arrived in the city on February 18. It’ll first be deployed at Siddhivinayak Station’s southern end for building the up-line tunnel towards Worli.

Package UGC-05/06

Scope: Dharavi – CSIA T2 with 7 stations at Dharavi, BKC, Vidyanagari, Santa Cruz, CSIA T1, Sahar Road and CSIA T2
Contractor:  J Kumar Infraprojects – China Railway No. 3 Engineering Group (J Kumar – CREG) JV

• TBM T-61 (Godavari-1) – this Terratec TBM was lowered into the Vidyanagari Station’s northern end in December 2017 and commissioned on January 19 2018 towards Santa Cruz for its initial drive

Godavari-1, the Metro-3 TBM in action at Vidya Nagri launching shaft, will be used for building 2.9 km long tunnel between Vidya Nagri and CSIA Domestic Airport #MumbaiLifeLine3 @CMOMaharashtra @rajtoday #ComingSoon pic.twitter.com/jwVJqqaoR5

— MumbaiMetro3 (@MumbaiMetro3) January 19, 2018

• TBM T-60 (Godavari-2) – this Terratec TBM passed FAT in August 2017 and arrived in the city in October. The contractor began lowering its parts into the Vidyanagari Shaft in January. This TBM is likely to be commissioned by the end of this month or early next month.

Package UGC-07

Scope: CSIA T2 – Sariput Nagar Ramp with 3 stations at Marol Naka, MIDC & SEEPZ
Contractor: Larsen & Toubro – Shanghai Tunnel Engg. Co. (L&T – STEC) JV

• TBM T-206 (Wainganga-1) – Parts of this refurbished STEC TBM were lowered into the Pali Ground Shaft in December 2017. Post assembly, the TBM was commissioned for its initial drive towards CSIA T2 on January 8.

• TBM D-213 (Wainganga-2) – this refurbished STEC TBM passed factory acceptance tests in August 2017 and arrived in the city on February 8. In the coming months, it’ll be commissioned from the Sariput Nagar Ramp’s shaft towards SEEPZ Station.

• TBM D-215 (Wainganga-3) – this new STEC TBM passed factory acceptance tests in November 2017 and arrived in the city on February 14. In the coming months, it’ll commissioned from the Pali Ground Shaft towards CSIA T2 Station.

On the systems side of things, technical bid evaluation is ongoing for the tunnel ventilation system (TVS), environmental control system (EVS), elevators and lifts, signalling and telecom systems. Bids for the rolling stock and automatic fare collection (AFC) system are planned to be opened in March 2018, while two contracts for the line’s traction & SCADA system will soon be awarded after JICA’s approval.

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

– TMRG