TBM T61 Records Breakthrough for Mumbai Metro Line-3 at CSIA T1
Moments ago, Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) T61 nicknamed Tapi-1 operated by the J Kumar Infraprojects – China Railway Tunnel Group JV made a breakthrough at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport’s Domestic Terminal-1 Station’s northern-end on Mumbai Metro’s 33.5 km Aqua Line (Line-3).
This was T61’s second (and final) breakthrough, J Kumar – CRTG’s fifth (and penultimate) breakthough for the 4.45km Santa Cruz Mid Ventilation Shaft – CSIA Terminal 2 Package UGC-06, and overall Mumbai Metro Line-3’s 31st TBM breakthrough.
This Ø6.68m dual-mode Terratec TBM had passed factory acceptance tests in September 2017 and arrived in the city in November 2017. For its first assignment, it was commissioned as TBM Godavari-1 from Package UGC-05’s Vidyanagari Station to the Santa Cruz Mid Ventilation Shaft (dead-end of UGC-05/06) and onwards to CSIA’s Terminal-1 Station for building the 2895 meter up-line tunnel, and recorded a joint breakthrough for UGC-05 and UGC-06 in April 2019.
For its last assignment that ended today – the machine was commissioned from Sahar Road Station towards Terminal 1 in September 2019 to build the 1512 meter down-line tunnel, and was in the process of looping around the airport’s Runway 14/32 when the COVID-19 related lockdown brought excavation to a halt. Work resumed in June with a severe shortage of man-power and gradually picked up pace as the city opened up.
With 31 breakthroughs completed, there are now just 10 more breakthroughs pending – the below table is best viewed on a desktop device. The next breakthrough is likely to be recorded in October at Dadar Station for the 1106 up-line tunnel connecting it to Siddhivinayak Station.
| Package | Section | Distance, Status |
| UGC-01 | Churchgate – Hutatma Chowk (up-line) | 660m, In Progress |
| UGC-01 | Hutatma Chowk – CST (up-line) | 551m, Not Started |
| UGC-01 | Churchgate – CST (down-line) | 1233m, In Progress |
| UGC-03 | Science Museum – Mahalaxmi (up-line) | 1118m, Not Started |
| UGC-03 | Mahalaxmi – Mumbai Central (up-line) | 837m, Not Started |
| UGC-03 | Science Museum – Mahalaxmi (down-line) | 1136m, In Progress |
| UGC-03 | Mahalaxmi – Mumbai Central (down-line) | 830m, Not Started |
| UGC-04 | Siddhivinayak – Dadar (up-line) | 1106m, In Progress |
| UGC-04 | Siddhivinayak – Dadar (down-line) | 1126m, In Progress |
| UGC-06 | Sahar Road – CSIA T1 (up-line) | 1516m, In Progress |
For more updates, check out the Mumbai section of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
I am waiting for breakthrough on depot issue. It’s hard seeing the most ambitious project of the country getting delayed 🙁
Some people’s ego is bigger than development. They will not let it get hurt.
If they will shift the Depot, then what will happen to the Ramp. Because if the Depot for the Aqua Line will shift from aarey to anywhere like Goregaon or kanjurmarg, they had to make some realignment and demolition of the Ramp and make the Underground tunnel to the Depot instead. TMRG, we want to know what they will do with sariput ramp if Govt. Announced that the Depot will be shift.
I think it’s far too early to say what’s going to happen or what changes will be required.
What I do know is that if a decision is made to move the depot, they’ll take 6-12 months to appoint a Detailed Design Consultant and then another 6-12 months for the actual design to be prepared.