L&T’s TBM Avni Starts Tunneling from Bangalore Metro’s Shivajinagar
Engineers from Larsen & Toubro on this past Monday quietly commissioned Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) Avni at Shivajinagar Station, without any major launch event, for building tunnels on the 21.386 km Line-4 (Reach 6 / Pink Line) of the 73.92 km Bangalore Metro Phase 2 project.
This Ø6.67m slurry machine (DZ669) is overall the project’s second, after TBM Urja (DZ670), and the first machine to start excavation works for the city’s 2.755 km package RT-02’s 2141 meter twin tunnels between Shivaji Nagar – MG Road – National Military School (formerly Vellara Road).
As of now, Avni has built 1 temporary ring, comprising of 5 segments + 1 smaller ‘key’ segment, within the station box while the 2nd ring is being built.
As shared earlier, the machine was dispatched from TBM manufacturer China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (CRCHI)’s plant in Changsha after completing factory acceptance tests (FAT) in November 2019. Its parts arrived in the city in February and workers began lowering them into the station’s southern-end in May.
In late-August, engineers completed local site acceptance tests (SAT) and last week moved the machine ahead to the head-wall’s eye-seal.
For more updates, check out the Bangalore section of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
L&T for them timely work completion matters more than event based work start. This is good. Hoping without much underground challenges and no land acquisition issues they should be able to move it smoothly. Timely support by BMRCL can make this underground project to move fine timely.
What about Dairy Circle Ramp to Military Schoolof the Pink. When Afcons will start Tunneling work?
6+ months away. Still waiting on their HK machines to pass factory acceptance tests…
I’m not sure of the South Ramp.
Majority of the demolition works at the Dairy Circle and Lakksandra Stations is done. Afcons has just started work secant piling and other works.
Langford station has seen 0% work. Only the empty parcel of land on the Western side of the road is barricaded.
A vertical shaft was visible sometime back near Johnson market end of National Military School Station. This was already done before Afcons also started work at this site about 3 months back.
So it might take another 6 months to create enough space in the station boxes to lower the TBMs unless they plan to start from National Military School Station.
Thank you for the update, … helpful, prompt and informative.
Any idea how much time they are estimating for the tunneling work to go from Shivajinagar to MG Road ?
Naah, haven’t heard of an estimate from my sources or from BMRCL in the papers.
What about tbm status in cantonment station?
Both TBM Urja & TBM Vindya have been commissioned to start Tunneling work. If things go well then they will make a Breakthrough at Shivaji Nagar in a Year.
Vindhya hasn’t been commissioned yet. Am told it’ll start after Urja has built 50 rings and is beyond Vindhya’s influence zone.
Urja had built 21 rings as of September 1 and has already witnessed a couple of interventions. It’s cutting discs are already battered by cutting through hard rock. I’m arranging for a pic – will share on Twitter.
How is the response to Namma Metro ever since they resumed after the Covid Lockdown ? On the first day of opening i.e. Sep 7, 2020 aparently only 3000 people used it across all lines. That is very low. Hope it shall pickup to its old glory.