L&T Begins Assembling India’s Largest TBM for Mumbai’s Coastal Road

Towards the end of September, workers from Larsen & Toubro began assembly work on the largest tunnel boring machine (TBM), with a diameter of 12.19m, to be deployed in India for building twin 1,920m road tunnels for Mumbai’s 29.2 km Coastal Road (Western Freeway) project.

This China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (CRCHI) slurry machine, had passed factory acceptance tests (FAT) in December 2019 and arrived in Mumbai’s Priyadarshini Park neighborhood in April 2020 after a 5000+ nautical mile journey from Shanghai Port to Mumbai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Port.

Per CRCHI’s website, the TBM is 80m long, weighs 2,300 tons, has an installed capacity of 7,280 kW, gradeability of 5% and can achieve a 350m horizontal turning radius.

Larsen & Toubro will deploy the machine on the project’s 3.93 km Package-4 for constructing 12m wide twin (3 + 3 lane) tunnels under Malabar Hill (75m deep) and Girgaum Chowpatty (25m deep) between Priyadarshini Park and Marine Drive in South Mumbai. Details on the expected geology can be viewed here.

Alignment of the tunnel in navy blue

In early October, assembly works came to an abrupt halt when a gantry crane (seen in the first image below) assembling the TBM with strand jacks suddenly collapsed. I’m unaware of the exact damage it caused, but looking at how quickly assembly works resumed, it does not appear like the TBM’s parts suffered any major damage.

Assembly underway in September-end using a gantry crane with strand jacks – Photo Copyright: Kiran Gavaskar

Since that episode, a Demag AC 1000-9 mobile crane with a capacity of lifting 1200 MT has been deployed to assemble the TBM.

Assembly underway using a new mobile crane on October 13 – Photo Copyright: Steel Carriers Infrastructure
Photo Copyright: Steel Carriers Infrastructure
Photo Copyright: Akash Chandrakant Patil
Casting yard being setup on reclaimed land near the launch shaft – Photo Copyright: Akash Chandrakant Patil
Priyadarshni Park (PDP) Launch Shaft with a view of Malabar Hill, Nariman Point and Cuffe Parade – Photo Copyright: Rayomand J. Patell

An image and video of how the TBM will eventually look like can be viewed here.

Besides this machine, CRCHI has supplied 4 smaller Ø6.67m slurry machines to Larsen & Toubro for Bangalore Metro’s Phase 2 project. Last week, L&T commissioned TBM Vindhya (DZ671), the third machine, at the Cantonment Station’s southern end.

For more updates, check out my Home Page!

– TMRG

written by

Global traveler who prefers mass rapid transit

13 Responses to "L&T Begins Assembling India’s Largest TBM for Mumbai’s Coastal Road"

  1. JOHN PHILIP ROY says:

    The last connector tunnel connects to the Worli – Bandra link bridge . Thereafter the road from Bandra to Borivali and beyond will bear the brunt of traffick clogs, which is already a mess after 5 pm !

    Reply
    • Amar Phatak says:

      Costal road is alternative option to existing western express highway, so naturally the traffic will get divided once its functional n operational so let’s cross the fingure n let’s complete the project on time.

      Reply
  2. Rushikesh Inamdar says:

    Very positive news for L&T stock..! This sector will now show a ‘V’ shaped recovery.

    Reply
  3. Hardnut says:

    Waste of money on land that is so fragile. All Mumbaikars should migrate before peril strikes them

    Reply
    • Vikramaditya Rao says:

      Be positive yaar, shubh shubh bolo, waise tho Mumbai ko bahut baar dubaaya jaa chukaa hai, par, her baar resurrect huwa hai…

      Reply
    • Abhay says:

      Arey Sirji, I know how we feel while wasting time to reach from one point to other in Mumbai 2-3 he’s daily.Be positive it would be a great solutions if we see in that perspective…..Also, this is strategic decision……Great Made in India initiative too. ..

      Reply
    • Shiv Shukla says:

      So true I don’t know who takes the decision I feel it’s the corrupt politicians and the companies who want to take projects and make money and become rich. Why don’t they start building new cities so that migration of people to Mumbai will reduce traffic will reduce and in return more cities and towns will erupt in India and development will take evenly through out the country.

      Reply
  4. Suresh Rao says:

    It is a positive news for Mumbai Otherwise most of the resources are given to national capital region though Mumbai contributes maximum money to Center We should also conetrate on eastern side also by building bridge from Siwree to mainland so that trafic towords New Bombay and onwords to Pune is diverted

    Reply
  5. Pradip patel says:

    Larson is Larson no worry about it..lion stock..

    Reply
  6. Suraj D says:

    L&T hai to trust hai.

    Reply
  7. Khushi mahen says:

    best choice….
    I think fruitful decision…keep it up
    L$T…🙋

    Reply

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