TBM S79 Records 2nd Breakthrough for Pune Metro Line-1

On Tuesday afternoon, tunnel boring machine (TBM) S79 operated by the Gülermak – Tata Projects Limited JV arrived at Pune Metro’s Agriculture College Shaft on the 16.589 km Line-1 (Purple Line) to record the line’s second breakthrough on the 5.09 km underground section between Range Hills and Swargate.

The Ø6.52m 100m long Terratec Earth Pressure Balance TBM, nicknamed Mula, commenced excavation from the Range Hills Ramp on January 5 and completed building the short 180m stretch of the down-line tunnel to the shaft in 23 days.

From here on, S78 TBM will be dragged across the 25m x 25m wide & 18m deep shaft, built by J Kumar Infraprojects under a separate contract, for relaunch towards Shivaji Nagar Station.

Here are some drone shots from November 2019 showcasing Gulermak-TPL’s casting yard and the Range Hills Ramp, which I shared this weekend on Twitter.

Per MahaMetro, S79’s sister machine S78 (Mutha) had “completed 351m of tunnel” which indicates it has quietly commenced its second drive from the Agriculture College Shaft towards the Shivaji Nagar Station, a distance of about 490 meters.

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

– TMRG