TBM 1238 Makes a Breakthrough for Mumbai Metro Line-3 at Worli

On January 29, tunnel boring machine (TBM) 1238 operated by Doğuş-Soma JV recorded the very first breakthrough for package UGC-03 of Mumbai Metro’s 33.5 km Line-3 (Aqua Line) at the southern-end of Worli Station.

The Ø6.65m refurbished Robbins NFM slurry machine, nicknamed Tansa 1, completed factory acceptance tests in August 2017 and was commissioned from the Science Museum Station a year later on August 17, 2018 to build the up-line tunnel.

During its 15 month journey, it traveled a distance of 2072 meters and erected 1381 rings (1 ring = 5 segments + 1 ‘key’ segment). Along the way, it passed through Acharya Atre Chowk Station’s box which wasn’t ready in time to receive the machine, so the rings built over there will be dismantled during excavation.

This is the first of 6 breakthroughs planned for UGC-03 and the 25th for Line-3. The next one on UGC-03 by TBM Tansa-2, also at Worli Station, is expected in April 2020. From here on, Tansa-1 will be dismantled and re-commissioned from Science Museum towards the Mahalaxmi Station.

Here’s a table displaying UGC-03’s tunneling plan (best viewed on a desktop device). There are unconfirmed talks of L&T-STEC JV being roped in to deploy one machine used previously to build and complete package UGC-07 (Marol Naka – Aarey Colony Ramp) to assist with completing this section. I’ll write or tweet about it when confirmed.

TBM	Line	From	To	Distance	Status
1	Up	Science Museum	Worli	2072m	Completed
1	Up	Science Museum	Mahalaxmi	1118m	Pending
2	Down	Science Museum	Worli	2057m	In Progress
2	Down	Science Museum	Mahalaxmi	1136m	Pending
3	Up	Mumbai Central	Mahalaxmi	837m	Pending
3	Down	Mumbai Central	Mahalaxmi	830m	Pending

Upcoming breakthroughs in February include:

• Package UGC-04: Siddhivinayak → Worli (down-line tunnel, 1284m)
• Package UGC-05: BKC → Dharavi (down-line tunnel, 1504 m)

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

– TMRG